The Beginning and the End
by kazuhiko
Summary: A story that takes place after the game and before Advent Children. Cloud has been having a recurring nightmare of turning into Sephiroth and it may not just be a dream!
1. Chapter 1

14

**Disclaimer**: Final Fantasy VII and all associated characters and symbols are the exclusive property of Square Enix and its associates.

The Beginning and the End

One…

Cloud looked in the mirror and frowned. You would think that at least when it was wet his unruly hair would lie down! But as usual, it was being stubborn and he finally put the comb down in disgust. He'd tried cutting the damn stuff short when he was a Shinra trooper, but even then it had somehow managed to stick out in all directions. Only after sweating in a trooper's helmet for half a day had he actually ever seen it lie flat to his head… for all of five minutes.

Cloud swore the stuff had a mind of its own! Even now as it started to dry, it was beginning to poke out like a porcupine. He sighed. Maybe he should just shave it all off and be done with it! Of course, he grinned and his blue eyes sparkled, Tifa would probably have a fit. He didn't know why women were so fond of his hair, but he did know that she liked to touch his in private moments when she seemed to want to say something serious and couldn't find the words. Even Aeris had ruffled his hair playfully more than once.

Cloud ran a distracted hand through his hair, messing it up further. He heard Tifa rustling around in the bedroom that she shared with Marlene. He should tell her he was done with the shower, just in case she wanted to freshen up a bit before going down to open the bar, but the steam lingered in a blanket of warm, moist air and his tired muscles enjoyed the temporary relaxation it afforded them.

It was only a few short weeks since Holy and Meteor had ravaged the city of Midgar and he was still spending most of his time hunting down and dispatching monsters that roamed the broken and abandoned streets. As the new Mayor of Midgar, Reeve had asked him and a few SOLDIERS Second and Third Class who decided to offer their services to clean up the city while he concentrated on bringing some semblance of order to the chaos Sephiroth and Rufus Shinra had left in their wake. Rebuilding was dangerous as long as the monsters kept attacking the workmen. It was grueling, mind-numbing work. The monsters were ridiculously weak to Cloud, who had grown stronger during the course of his quest to find and kill Sephiroth, but there were so many that he still ended up coming back at the end of each day totally exhausted. However, it looked like the monsters were finally growing fewer and he hoped that he and the other SOLDIER volunteers would soon have a positive report to give Reeve.

Cloud pulled the SOLDIER shirt over his head and straightened it, ignoring the zipper, then his hands paused and he fingered the ribbed material thoughtfully, remembering the first time he ever saw a SOLDIER wearing it.

Zack.

The only SOLDIER First Class he had ever met. He'd looked up to Zack almost as much as he did General Sephiroth. He smiled as he recalled Zack taking the time to ask a miserably motion sick Trooper Third Class how he was doing. It was a shame he hadn't gotten to know Zack better before the incident at Nibelheim. His memories of the events during the five years he and Zack had spent in Hojo's care were spotty at best, even after he and Tifa spent that time in the Lifestream searching for the real Cloud. Oh, there were occasional disjointed flashes of memories; pain, needles, Hojo's gloating face… and fear. Cloud shook his head sharply, squeezing his eyes shut. No! Definitely not memories he wanted to dredge up and explore. That part of his life was over now and, for better or worse, he would have to live with the changes it had forced on a young inexperienced trooper, most notably the glowing Mako eyes and SOLDIER body.

"Cloud? Are you done yet?"

He jumped guiltily.

"Just a minute!" he called back, quickly tucking the shirt into his pants and strapping Zack's belt around his waist. Grabbing his shoulder armor, he started to put it on when something in the mirror caught his attention. He glanced up… and froze. Sephiroth stared back at him from the glass reflection. Cloud raised a hand to touch the mirror, not sure if he was seeing things. Sephiroth did the same.

"No…" Cloud whispered, eyes widening in horror. "I killed you!"

"Did you say something?" Tifa tapped lightly on the bathroom door.

Sephiroth's glowing green eyes turned toward the sound as Cloud glanced that way.

"No Tifa! Stay out!"

"Cloud? What's going on? Are you okay!"

Cloud suddenly grabbed his head as pain lanced through it. His eyes burned and he saw double, as if another pair of eyes were trying to see through his. Something was moving inside him, filling him, trying to push him out. He staggered against the sink, gritting his teeth, and closed his eyes against the fire that raged through his head.

No! He was definitely not okay! But he couldn't say that. She'd come in and see him like this. He didn't know what was happening to him, but he knew instinctively that she would be in danger if she approached him now.

"I'm fi…" he started to say. Then every cell in his body exploded. Cloud bit his tongue to keep from screaming, lost his grip on the sink and fell heavily to the floor, smashing a chair on the way down. He curled up, shuddering under a mental assault more powerful than any he'd gone through before, even when Sephiroth was using him as his puppet. He felt the muscles of his face twist and stretch, as if they were trying to reshape themselves. His eyes were on fire and his scalp prickled like a thousand needles were jabbing him all at once.

"Cloud!" Tifa yanked on the door, but it was locked. She started pounding on it, her heart in her throat. Then she stepped back and kicked it as hard as she could.

BAM!

The bathroom door flew open, torn loose from its hinges by the force of the blow, and Tifa charged in with fists raised to do battle as her eyes searched for Cloud. She spotted him on the floor and started towards him, concerned, then he looked up at her and she froze, taking an involuntary step backwards. She raised her hand to her mouth to stifle a scream, eyes growing wide.

Cloud saw the horror in Tifa's eyes and slowly levered himself to his feet, staggering as his legs almost gave out under him again. What was wrong? Why was she looking at him like that? His hair got in the way and he started to shake it out of his eyes when he stopped. It was long and… silver? He suddenly realized that he was no longer wearing his SOLDIER uniform. Instead, he saw a long black coat and high black boots. There was a sword in his hand, at once familiar and unfamiliar. He raised it and saw his reflection in the shimmering blade of the Masamune; green glowing eyes beneath pale silver brows… framed by long silver hair.

He raised the sword above Tifa's head and smiled…

"No!" Cloud lunged up from the bed, throat constricted as he instinctively tried to muffle the scream. His hair stuck to his face, gluing his eyes shut, and he swiped at it with a shaking hand, then abruptly grabbed and yanked it to make sure it was short. His vision refused to clear and he rolled out of bed and stumbled to where his sword hung in its sheath over the back of a chair. He grabbed it out of the heavy leather sheath and held it up, peering into its mirror-like surface. His own face stared back at him, glowing blue eyes wide in shock.

There was a faint thump and he heard quiet footsteps cross the room next to his. There was a tap on the wall and Tifa's muffled voice reached his ears.

"Cloud? Are you alright?"

Cloud closed his eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath then let it out slowly. It was a dream; just a dream!

"I'm fine," he answered softly. "Just had a bad dream. Sorry if I woke you," he added sheepishly, though his heart was still racing and his head ached. He looked down at his sweat soaked night shirt and pants and grinned wryly, realizing he'd need a shower for real now. He listened as Tifa, apparently satisfied with his answer, walked back to her bed. It creaked slightly as she lay down and his enhanced hearing picked up the brush of cloth as she slipped between the covers and curled up, pulling them over her head.

Cloud re-sheathed the sword, shaking his head at the image of Tifa cuddled up with a blanket over her head like a little child hiding from the monsters. There were so many things he hadn't known about her until they went on their quest to stop Sephiroth and save the planet; like how she tilted her head when she caught him looking at her, or the way she flipped her long ponytail out of the way before attacking monsters and Shinra soldiers with a fierce volley of kicks and punches. For such a petite girl, she had never ceased to amaze him with her fighting skills and positive attitude. Even in the Lifestream, when his fractured memories made him doubt he was truly Cloud and not just some experiment created by Hojo, she had stood by his side, encouraging him, helping him to realize who he was and that there was still a reason to live.

Cloud grabbed his pants and shirt from where he'd dumped them over the chair, opened the door and tip-toed down the hall toward the bathroom. There were four rooms on the upstairs floor of the 7th Heaven Bar; his room; Tifa's, which she shared with Marlene while Barret was out searching for alternative energy sources with his fellow miners from Corel; the bathroom; and a spare bedroom that Tifa left open just in case they had visitors. Cloud grinned as he slipped into the bathroom without need of a light, shut the door, and turned on the water in the shower to high heat. He knew it was wishful thinking on her part that any of their original company would come back to Midgar any time soon, if ever. They had all gone their own way after the final battle.

Cloud shrugged, peeled off his sweat soaked clothes, and stepped shivering into the steaming shower, welcoming the hot jets of water as they pounded the tension from his shoulders and neck.

Cloud remembered their last day together on the deck of the greatly altered Highwind. Cid had stopped over at Midgar for repairs, as well as to drop off those who were staying at Midgar. The city had looked like a battle zone. The central spoke, Shinra Headquarters, was missing nearly a third of its upper floors and the surviving population had gone into hiding in the slums by Reeve's orders.

Vincent had vanished the night they landed, slipping over the deck like a dark shadow, the only proof that he'd even been there lying in the cell phone he left behind. Cloud had watched him go, his heart heavy, but said nothing to the man who had been such a comforting presence by his side during so many battles, knowing instinctively that the quiet ex-Turk wanted no fanfare, thanks, or long farewells.

Two days later, Cid had announced he was headed home and offered a ride to anyone who wanted one. Red XIII, Yuffie, Barret, and surprisingly Cait Sith had taken him up on the offer, all having originally come from the Western Continent except for Yuffie, who lived on the huge island of Wutai.

Cloud closed his eyes and stuck his head under the water. He remembered the day of the final battle as clearly as if it was yesterday. The planet's Lifestream had taken over when Holy failed, absorbing both Holy and Meteor in a final answer to Aeris' prayers and their own.

Yes!" Yuffie whooped, hopping up and down as the others cheered and thumped each other's backs.

"Guess the planet decided to let us stick around awhile," Cid commented, lighting a cigarette and taking a long puff of smoke. He kicked at the deck of the Highwind with a frown. "I'm gonna need to put this bucket of bolts back together though." He didn't sound thrilled by the idea.

"I think I can help you with that!" Cait Sight popped up. "I'm sure I can get some mechanics to meet you at the gate to Midgar. It's the least we can do," he added, eyes shining with new hope.

Cid's face lit up briefly then he scowled. "Don't need any ham-fisted, brainless techs putting their grubby hands on the Highwind!" he growled.

"Of course, you can oversee the repairs," the little robot cat reassured him.

"Damn straight I will!"

"Oh, and we'll need to search for new sources of energy," Cait Sith turned to look expectantly at Barret. "I think we all agree that we can't continue to rely on Mako energy any longer. Right Barret? Barret?"

"What?"

Cait Sith nearly fell off his mog.

"I said… we'll need to search for an alternate source of power now," he repeated, "and I was hoping you and your friends at Corel could help me out."

A big grin slowly spread across the ex-Avalanche leader's face.

"You bet!" he waved his arms excitedly. "Me and the boys can start up the mines again, maybe scout for oil too…" his voice trailed off, "… course, we'll need supplies and money."

"Money's not a problem. If you recall, we're practically rolling in it, though it probably isn't worth what it was. And I can get you any supplies you need since I'm sort of the new Mayor here…"

"Mayor!"

Everyone was startled.

The little cat actually managed to look embarrassed.

"Yeah, well… umm… some ex-Shinra soldiers came by and asked me if I'd be Mayor, so I…"

Barret suddenly stomped up to the little robot cat, trying to stare him in the eye, which was a bit difficult seeing as how the stuffed mog was bigger and taller than he was.

"Reeve, you ain't gonna try running things like that jackass Shinra, are ya? Cause if you are, I'm coming in there and school your ass!" He waved his gun arm under the cat's nose for emphasis.

Cait Sith's eyes widened and he backed up a step. The mog grabbed him and lifted him up high before the little cat fell off.

"Absolutely not!" he squeaked. "I have no intention of turning into a tyrant like President Shinra or Rufus. My goal is to provide a stable economy for the people of Midgar." He turned to look at each of his companions and added, "… and any other town that needs our help. This world has been torn apart by war and with Shinra's downfall I'm afraid it's going to be more difficult than ever, what with all the monsters roaming around and no military to protect travelers."

"I agree," Red XIII spoke up suddenly. "Without Shinra guarding the roads and cities, we will need to create our own patrols to stabilize each region and control the monster population." The others nodded, each realizing that their troubles had only started, rather than ended, with the destruction of Meteor.

"Cloud, can I count on you to clear out the monsters in Midgar? I've got a few SOLDIER Second and Thirds who said they wouldn't mind starting a clean-up detail. But I could really use your help."

Cloud nodded.

"Sure!" he said, hopping down from the rail where he'd perched, listening quietly to the conversation.

Tifa beamed at him.

"Great! You can stay at the bar. I have a few spare rooms upstairs," she offered, delighted at the idea of keeping him near her. She was, she had to admit to herself, falling in love with the soft spoken blonde. It seemed strange to her now that she had never really noticed him in all the time they were growing up in Nibelheim. She felt guilty about that, especially after learning how much he had wanted to be part of her little group when they were in the Lifestream. But she would definitely make it up to him.

"What about you, Red?" Cait Sith swiveled on the mog's head to look down at the red beast. Red XIII lashed his flaming tail gently from side to side and lowered his head.

"I will return to Cosmo Canyon," he replied. "Grandfather left his legacy behind and there are still students who wish to learn about the planet. As the last of my kind, it is my duty to guard them."

Cait Sith and the mog both lowered their heads at the same time. "I suppose so." He looked around at the others. "What about the rest of you? I could use the help?"

"..."

Vincent stared at him with those disconcerting red eyes of his and Cait Sith quickly turned to Cid.

"I'm rebuilding the Highwind!" the pilot chomped on his cigarette. "Then maybe I'll go on a long cruise. That is if I can get my lazy #& crew into shape. I can't believe they dove my ship into a bleedin' crater," he grumbled then turned and headed back inside.

"Well I'm going back to Wutai and straighten out those lazy jerks!" Yuffie piped up before she grabbed her stomach and moaned. "And don't forget," she pointed a finger at Cloud, "you promised to give me all your Materia!" She dove into the hold, roughly pushing Cid against the wall as she passed.

Cid watched her go with a smirk. Then it dawned on him what she'd said and he turned back to look questioningly at Cloud.

"Promise?" he asked.

Cloud looked blank for a moment.

"Yeah, Spikey. What's she talkin about?" Barret growled.

"Did you really promise?" Tifa looked surprised.

Cloud suddenly snapped his fingers as he remembered. Then he shook his head, embarrassed.

"She did try to get me to sign a contract to hand over all our Materia when the mission was over. I refused of course but…," he shrugged and scratched his head, at a loss for words.

The others laughed at his obvious discomfiture.

"But you know," Red XIII spoke up when the laughter died down to a few chuckles. "Perhaps she's right."

Everyone turned to look at him like he'd lost his marbles. Red cocked his head.

"Do we really need all the Materia we acquired during our travels?" he asked them seriously. "I for one don't need any. We have a small store in Cosmo Canyon, but since Sephiroth and Jenova are gone along with the WEAPONS, we'll only have monsters to deal with and I think a few simple attack and defense spells should be enough to handle that, along with healing spells."

"That's a rather long-winded speech for you, fur face," Cid chuckled. "But you're making sense. I'm for it." He looked around at the rest of them.

Cloud thought about it for all of five seconds before he began pulling Materia orbs out of his Mystile bracelet and placing them in the bag where the rest of his extra Materia was. That done, he drew the Ultima Sword and started to pluck small colored orbs from its slots. Gradually the others began to follow his example, Red XIII getting help from Tifa to remove his. When they were done, the bag was stretched dangerously thin and quite heavy. Cloud was impressed at just how much they had actually collected during the course of their travels. He looked up to see who would take the treasure trove in Materia to Yuffie.

Cid grinned broadly while the others just looked at him with various expressions of amusement on their faces. He shrugged, re-sheathed his sword and headed for the stairs. Vincent stepped in front of him and he stopped. Without a word, the ex-Turk relinquished his own Materia orbs. He raised one dark eyebrow when Cloud sent him a questioning look, but said nothing. Cloud nodded and continued down the stairs to where Yuffie huddled in her accustomed place against the supply crates looking utterly miserable.

"Remember what I said about motion sickness?" he asked.

Yuffie groaned.

"Go away! I'm not nervous anymore and I haven't been reading either! Damn. Why am I the only one? This is lame. I come from a long line of proud warrior ninjas!"

"Well, if it makes you feel any better… I brought you everyone's Materia."

Cloud held out the heavy bag. Yuffie looked up over her knees and a slow grin peeked out. She jumped up and snatched the bag from him, eagerly glancing inside then frowned.

"Hey! This isn't ALL of it! I should know! I've been counting… Oops!"

Cloud couldn't help laughing at her expression. Yuffie scowled at him and he covered his mouth with one hand, shoulders still shaking with barely contained mirth.

"It was Red's idea to keep a few necessary spells for defense and healing," he said when he finally caught his breath.

Yuffie's face turned an interesting shade of red and she stammered, "W… well, I guess I can't take it all then. Not if you really NEED it." She shook the bag, hefting it. There was a satisfying clinking noise from inside and her eyes started to glitter as she thought of all the things she was going to do when she got back home.

"I guess that helped you forget your motion sickness," Cloud commented, seeing her face change from misery to triumph. Yuffie looked at him grinning. Then her face suddenly fell.

"Aww, man! You had to remind me! Now it's even worse!" She flopped against the crates, hugging the sack of Materia possessively.

"Sorry," Cloud couldn't help grinning. "But I'm sure you'll forget it again soon," he assured her and turned away. The others were filing back inside and he led them to the bridge, wondering how much they had heard.

Everyone took up their accustomed positions and Cid instructed the crew to head for Midgar. It was the last time he saw them all together.

Cloud finished his shower. He didn't even try to comb his hair down. He was starting to think he didn't want to ever again after that nightmare of turning into Sephiroth. He also avoided looking in the mirror as he quickly slipped on his clothes, armor, and sheath, then descended the stairway and crossed the empty bar. Opening the door, Cloud stepped outside and breathed deeply of the pre-dawn air. Settling the sword more comfortably on his back, he headed toward Sector 6 and the last pocket of monsters in the city. He hoped.

Cloud slashed the last Whole Eater and stepped back as it fell. He checked to make sure it was the last then swung his sword in a sharp downward motion to clean it of blood before re-sheathing it with his usual flair.

"Not bad!" SOLDIER Second Class Sora called out from where he was watching in a nearby alley.

Cloud looked up, embarrassed. He scratched his head and shrugged.

"Thanks," he grinned sheepishly.

"No, I should be the one thanking you!" Sora stepped out and crossed to Cloud's side, surveying the damage path of monsters Cloud had left in his wake. He gave a low appreciative whistle. "Haven't had the honor of watching a SOLDIER First Class in action before. You sure do cut a big path!" he grinned.

Cloud's face clouded up for a moment. He was not a SOLDIER First Class. Never had been. Though for a long time he had managed to convince himself that he was. But even though he had tried to explain that to the other SOLDIERS he was working with, they still insisted on addressing him as SOLDIER FIRST. Sometimes he wondered if it would just be better to throw away Zack's uniform and wear civilian clothes. But each time he considered it, his heart was troubled by the thought of so cavalierly casting away the last gift Zack had given him. Maybe if he disguised it in some way with a cloak or bit of cloth to change the easily recognizable uniform? Cloud set that in the back of his mind for serious consideration later, but he said nothing.

Sora continued unaware of Cloud's silence.

"Well, everything's cleared out as far as I can tell. The others just finished out Sector 8 so I think we can safely report to Mayor Reeve that the mission is successfully completed!"

Cloud looked around as the clean up crews began to move in to dispose of the monster corpses. He nodded.

"Now we can start to rebuild," he said thoughtfully.

Sora grinned.

"Bout bloody time! So what're you gonna do now? We could use a good SOLDIER FIRST in our new military Reeve's forming. Plenty of monsters to keep tamed between here and our military outpost in Kalm Town."

Cloud frowned.

"Well, actually I was thinking of starting up a delivery service."

Sora gave him a questioning look and he explained.

"Sort of like a mail service, but on a smaller scale." It was kind of hard to explain since Cloud really hadn't given it much thought until now. "I figured people might like to send packages and stuff to different towns and what with all the monsters…"

"I get it!" Sora interjected. "Like a courier, right?"

Cloud nodded, relieved, and Sora cupped his chin in one hand thoughtfully.

"That's actually a really good idea," he said. "We can't guard every road and there are tons of monsters out there, so a courier service run by an ex-SOLDIER would be a great way to keep in contact." He looked up. "So what're you going to deliver? Mail only?"

"Anything that people need ferried from one place to the other."

Cloud started to walk away as the trucks pulled in and the clean up crews started piling corpses inside. They would probably just toss them outside the city. The wild monsters and elements would take care of the rest. Sora followed him like a puppy dog.

"Anything?" he sounded amazed. "Wow! You're really mercenary aren't you? But you know, you're gonna need more than just a broad back to carry 'anything'!"

"Yeah," Cloud admitted reluctantly. He glanced at Sora, thinking how friendly the ex-Shinra SOLDIER Second Class was. Only a few short weeks ago they would've been mortal enemies and now they were working together to clean up Midgar under Reeve's command. He shook his head. Things certainly changed. But maybe for the better. He kind of liked Sora's casual manner. It reminded him in some ways of Zack.

"I was thinking of getting a motorcycle. I've got a few chocobos, but they don't like them inside the city…" he shrugged.

Sora rounded on him suddenly, forcing him to stop before he ran him over.

"That's a great idea!" Sora waved one gloved hand. "I know this guy in Sector 4 who builds custom bikes. The best in the business! He could build you something with speed that'll carry anything you can and then some. I can talk to him if you like. Hell, we're headed that direction anyway. We can skip our report to Reeve for now and I'll take you there myself. Introduce you to him. How's that?"

Cloud looked at him, feeling a bit overwhelmed, but he managed to nod.

"Great! Then after that, I know this really great bar where they have a hot waitress in Sector 1." Sora put a finger in his mouth and chewed on it contemplatively, then suddenly pulled it out and spit. "Ergh! Gotta change gloves. These are all bloody!"

Cloud chuckled, blue eyes glittering with barely contained mirth. Sora looked at him then started to laugh as well. He slapped his thigh, tears starting from his eyes as he gave in to the humor of the situation. When he could speak again, he gasped, "You know, for a quiet, straight-laced SOLDIER FIRST, you got a mean streak in you! Come on! I'll introduce you to the guy."


	2. Chapter 2

27

**Disclaimer**: Final Fantasy VII and all associated characters and symbols are the exclusive property of Square Enix and its associates. (Didn't realize I had to do this. Sorry Squar Enix!)

Two…

"So Jim! Got any ideas for our boy here?" Sora hung a friendly arm over Cloud's shoulders. Cloud stiffened, unused to such physical contact. Totally oblivious to his friend's discomfort, Sora pulled his arm away and waved it expressively at Cloud. "Tell him what you want, Cloud!" he invited before the bike shop owner could get a word in edge wise.

Cloud stood for a moment, uncertain where to start, and Sora slapped a reassuring hand on his back, shoving him forward.

"Tell him!" But before Cloud could open his mouth, Sora blurted out, "He's gonna need a courier compartment big enough to carry a ton of mail, right Cloud?"

"Not a ton," Cloud muttered, looking furtively at the door then at the shop keeper, who was scowling at Sora. Jim pointedly ignored the SOLDIER Second Class and nodded to Cloud.

"We do the regular Shinra designed bikes here," he said, glaring at Sora as that worthy's mouth opened to interject something. Sora closed his mouth with a snap. "We can customize using the original chassis as a base. Any flashy designs will need to be checked and okayed by me personally, understand?"

Cloud nodded. Sora opened his mouth again and Jim tromped on his foot, making him squeak. He glared fiercely at the SOLDIER.

"Let the gentleman speak for himself, Sora," the bike shop owner growled.

Sora grinned sheepishly.

"Yes, Dad," he said, eyes sparkling with mischief.

Cloud quickly glanced from Sora to Jim, not sure he had heard right or whether it was some kind of insider's joke. Sora winked at him and grinned broadly.

"Cloud, meet my pop, Jim Kokoro."

Jim scowled at Sora then gave a curt nod to Cloud, shaking his hand with a firm no nonsense grip. "Glad to make your acquaintance. I was beginning to think that all SOLDIERS were asses like my son here, except for General Sephiroth and Zack of course." He turned away to flip open the countertop panel and beckoned them to follow him to the back of the shop where his office was, missing how Cloud winced at the names. But Sora caught it.

"Hey! Did you know General Sephiroth and Colonel Zack? I always admired those two. Not like the groupie troopers or anything. But those two cut quite a big path across the world. Best SOLDIERS Shinra ever produced! Though you're pretty damn good yourself," he eyed Cloud speculatively. "You ever meet them? Naw, you must have, being a SOLDIER First Class yourself!"

Cloud caught him eyeing Zack's belt.

That's it! He thought to himself. I am definitely going to buy something to cover the belt at least. At Sora's intense scrutiny, Cloud shrugged more nonchalantly than normal, trying to downplay it as much as possible.

"I was on an assignment with them… once," he finally admitted reluctantly, not adding that he was a lowly trooper at the time. The incident at Nibelheim was still a painful memory, what he could remember of it. Sephiroth had seemed genuinely interested in knowing how he, Cloud, felt coming back to his hometown of Nibelheim. He had laughed like any normal man when Cloud mumbled that it wasn't that big of a deal, sharing a companionable moment with him that he would never forget. Even Zack had encouraged him during the queasy, bumpy truck ride to Nibelheim. Two men he had idolized from afar, like hundreds of other troopers, had actually spoken to him, laughed and shared their time and attention with him! Then, just a short while later, everything changed.

Cloud hurried after the shop owner as they went down a short hallway, forcing Sora to shut up so he could keep up. He didn't want to talk about it. The memories were too precious and too painful to share casually with someone like Sora.

Jim plunked down into an old wooden chair behind a work table that was covered with paint chips, motorcycle parts, orders, and various bits and pieces of paper. Cloud sat down in the chair across from him while Sora lounged against the door jamb with a pensive expression on his normally cheery face.

"So… what do you need?" Jim asked Cloud. Jabbing a quick finger at Sora, he added, "And you be quiet!"

"Well," Cloud scratched his head then looked down at his own bloody glove and winced. He was going to have to wash his hair again! He could feel Sora laughing silently behind him as he cupped his hands together in his lap so he wouldn't spread the blood anymore than he already had. "I'll need a compartment for carrying letters, boxes, and such."

Sora snorted behind him and he plunged on.

"I'll be delivering anything I can carry, so the more space you can make the better I'll be able to do my job."

Jim nodded and started doodling a rough sketch of a Shinra motorcycle on a scrap of paper that looked like the back of an old invoice. Cloud recognized the bike and tried hard not to smile at the memories it brought back of a wild ride through the streets of Midgar, pursued by Shinra troopers.

"I'm going to be outside Midgar most of the time, so I'll need storage space for supplies and it'll have to be resistant to the elements…"

Jim made some notations beside the sketches, then he added a string of numbers; dimensions by the look of it, though Cloud couldn't be sure.

"What kind of power do you want?"

"Enough to get over rough terrain."

"Fuel preference?"

"Gas, I think."

Jim nodded his head.

"Better reaction time than the electric toys Shinra was always trying to sell the public."

"I'd also like to ask a special favor," Cloud said tentatively, glancing uneasily behind him at his unwanted shadow, Sora. "I have a few swords that I'd like to have you make special sheaths for so I can carry them on the bike, if that's possible?"

Jim visibly perked up and he leaned forward, eyeing the blonde SOLDIER his son had brought with him. Now THIS was getting interesting!

"How many and what size?" he asked, pen poised over the paper, which now had chocobo scratches all over it.

"Umm, probably six would be enough to carry my best swords. I'd need to have instant access to them in case I come across monsters while driving…" Cloud stood up and pulled the Buster Sword out of the sheath at his back, bringing it around to show the shop owner as he heard Sora whistle behind him. "…about this size."

"Six! Holy mackerel! How many swords have you got! I just have the Hardedge that Shinra issued us when I entered SOLDIER!"

"Shut up, Sora," Jim growled, eyeing Cloud's sword. He walked over, measuring it with his eyes then held out his hand. Cloud carefully handed the sword over to him, holding it lightly until he was sure Jim wouldn't drop it. Jim grunted, arm muscles bulging as he grabbed the blade with both hands. He hefted it carefully a moment, looked at the careworn but very sharp edge of the blade, then handed it back to Cloud and returned to his desk to make more notations.

"Going to need extra heavy duty suspension..." he muttered to himself, "… times six… plus metal brackets. Hmm." He started drawing rough sketches of brackets and swords beside the motorcycle. "Can't fit 'em near the saddlebags…"

"So how many swords do you have, Cloud?" Sora's voice drowned out the shop owner's and Cloud sighed as he re-sheathed the Buster Sword. He didn't like the eager look in the SOLDIER SECOND'S eyes. It reminded him too much of a cat eyeing a canary, or worse, a Shinra trooper getting his first real look at his lifetime idol.

"I guess… about fifteen," he mumbled, looking away so he wouldn't have to see Sora's expression.

"So," he turned to Jim, saw the older man's upraised brows and stumbled on, "So… do you think you can make a bike for me?" He sounded almost desperate, as if he wanted nothing more than to hop on the bike right now and escape as fast as he could. Cloud didn't want to tell them how he had acquired so many swords or why, though he was pretty certain there were already rumors about Avalanche's quest to find and destroy Sephiroth and Meteor. Lord knew they had been everywhere more than once, battling monsters and Shinra the entire way, and even the densest people couldn't have missed Meteor. It was said that the battle between Meteor, Holy, and the planet's Lifestream had been seen as far away as Cosmo Canyon. With a history like that, it was becoming increasingly more difficult to downplay the events and fade into the background, which was what Cloud most wanted to do.

Jim studied him a long moment in silence, causing Cloud to squirm. He nodded finally and slapped the pen down on his desk, rising to shake hands.

"Good enough! I'll see what I can do. Where can I contact you when I'm finished?"

"Seventh Heaven in Sector 1," Cloud mumbled, glancing furtively at Sora.

"Right," Jim said, turning back to his drawings.

"Whaaa?" Sora's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Heeey!" he whined. "First you were chummy with General Sephiroth and Colonel Zack and now you're living with a total babe at the Seventh Heaven Bar! No fair! What'd you do, make a wish to an Ancient?"

Cloud winced visibly.

Sora didn't notice, continuing with his tirade. "I'd like to know which company you were assigned to. I'm signing up for the next…"

Cloud hurried out of the shop and into a nearby alley as he heard Sora ranting on about Lady Luck and chocobo races. He wished he hadn't said anything or even gone to the bike shop with Sora, but he needed a means of transportation if he was going to actually start up a delivery business. He sighed and quietly made his way back toward Tifa's bar. He would call Reeve to make his report on the monster detail and avoid meeting up with Sora or the other SOLDIERS, though he doubted that would solve his problem for long. Maybe he should just use the back door to Tifa's bar from now on. But that probably wouldn't work either. He shook his head, imagining Sora dragging every SOLDIER, trooper, and friend in town to Tifa's bar to ogle the SOLDIER First Class who had fifteen swords, had worked with General Sephiroth personally on a mission AND lived with Tifa.

"Ugh," he rubbed his eyes wearily, forgetting the blood on his gloves. Fortunately it had dried and only crumbled a bit. "Maybe I should just shoot myself or go be a hermit on the Northern Continent." With that happy thought, he headed across the city towards Sector 1 using narrow streets and alleys wherever he could.

"Damn! If I had half the luck you have I'd be sitting on top of the world, not shoveling monsters out of back alleys and…"

"Sora!" Jim interrupted his son, using his most commanding voice.

The SOLDIER SECOND stopped mid-tirade and looked around, finally noticing that Cloud had left.

"He's gone, you idiot!"

Sora looked at him, confused.

"Sit down!" the old shop owner ordered him. Obediently, Sora plopped down into the chair Cloud had vacated only moments ago, still muttering imprecations under his breath until his eyes met Jim's and he realized his father was serious. He quieted down and waited.

"I doubt you noticed, you lack wit!" Jim began, "but that young man…"

"Cloud?" Sora helpfully filled in the name for his dad.

Jim nodded, continuing.

"That young man seems as if he's gone through a lot to get where he is. I was in the military during the Wutai war and I know what it's like to go through hell and back…"

"Yeah, Pop. I've heard it all before," Sora interrupted him abruptly. "How you went to war against these uber strong island warriors and…"

"I'm not talking about me, damnit!" Jim pounded his fist on the desk, making Sora jump. His eyes blazed a warning for Sora to stay silent until he was finished. "That young man… Cloud," he said the name before Sora could interject again, "has the look of someone who's been through more battles than he probably cares to recall. I know the signs. And I'm sure he'd just as soon not have someone spreading rumors about him. So try to keep your yap shut and leave him be, got it? Cause if I hear you've said one damn word about him and Sephiroth, or anything else we've heard here for that matter, I'll tan your hide for you!"

Sora's Mako tinged brown eyes twinkled as he drew himself up, flexing his SOLDIER enhanced muscles.

"You'll what?" he challenged.

Jim's eyes suddenly took on a crafty look. "And if that don't work," he added with an evil grin, "I've got some pictures of you when you were a kid running around naked in the streets of Midgar."

Sora looked horrified. Jim chuckled wickedly.

"You wouldn't!" Sora blurted out.

"Damn straight, I would," Jim assured him. Then his expression turned serious again. "Look, no matter what you think, there are some things that should just be left alone and I think this is one of them. Understand?"

"Yeah," Sora agreed reluctantly. "So, you got any ideas for the bike? I told him you were the best!"

Jim scowled at him and made shooing motions with his hands.

"Of course I've got ideas, but you're not seeing anything till I build it. Now don't you have something better to do than pester your old man? Go make a report or something!"

"Awww!" Sora pouted. "At least let me show it to him when you're finished, okay? You owe me that much for bringing you some business."

"All right. You can fetch him when the bike's done! Now get out of here!" Jim sounded exasperated, but there was a light in his eyes that said he was grateful for the new project. "This should be interesting," he admitted to himself, returning to his notes.

Sora laughed triumphantly then jumped to his feet, practically knocking the chair over in his haste.

"Ah, shoot!"

Jim jerked in surprise and scowled at him. But Sora was already scooting out the door.

"I've gotta report to Reeve!"

The shop owner chuckled as he watched his son disappear through the door, then he looked down at his notes again.

"Fifteen swords." He whistled. "It is a lot for one man, even a SOLDIER First Class. And I know I've seen that sword before." He shrugged. "Oh, well. Listen to your own advice and don't go sticking your nose into other people's business."

Jim grabbed up his notes and headed into the back of the shop to check on his inventory. He had a pretty good idea what he wanted and if it worked out right, it would end up being one of the most exciting motorcycles he had produced to date.

Cloud frowned as he slipped from one alleyway to another, making a rather more roundabout way back to Tifa's bar on the outer hub of Sector Plate 1. Sora had destroyed his good mood and now he was thinking of Aeris again as well. He had tried hard to forget her for Tifa's sake. No, he shook his head, not forget her. He could never forget Aeris. But he had tried not to speak of her or think of her too much because he still felt a deep sense of guilt and didn't want to burden Tifa or his friends with it. It was his sin and his alone and he would have to deal with it in his own way. He guessed, in that respect, that he was a lot like Vincent. But at least Vincent hadn't tried to kill Lucrecia with his own hands! Nor had he led Sephiroth to where she was and let him kill her.

He thought he understood Vincent better now though. One look into the dark man's glowing red eyes spoke volumes, at least to Cloud; but even so, it had taken awhile for him to realize that the man's cold demeanor was merely a façade. They had fought side by side in so many battles during their quest to destroy Sephiroth and Meteor, and Vincent had coldly and precisely carried out each of his orders, covering him without a word whenever it was necessary, even taking damage to protect him when he needed time to gather his MP for a summons. And yet Cloud had not seen the fire that lurked beneath the ice until they faced off against Hojo. Then he felt it emanating in waves from the man; a fire he never showed to others; his true self. Tifa still thought he was cold, unfeeling, and a little bit creepy, but Cloud… well, he felt as if he'd lost a brother he didn't know he had when Vincent slipped off the Highwind that night and vanished. He hadn't seen him since, nor did he try to search for him or contact him in any way. Vincent had left the phone behind because he didn't want to be contacted. Cloud understood that and respected his wishes.

Looking up, Cloud noticed that he had wandered into a busy shopping district. He stepped aside to allow a group of shoppers to pass and, slipping into a nearby alley, made his way through it to a less traveled street. Sora's words about wishing upon an Ancient came back to him like the blow of a hammer.

Aeris.

Cloud's shoulders slumped and the sword at his back felt unusually heavy as he thought of her. She still invaded his dreams at times, laughing at him after putting him into some kind of foolish situation. Like that date in the Gold Saucer. She had delighted in watching him stumble through that ridiculous play and then gotten mad at him when confusion messed him up and he accidentally pointed to the wrong enemy. He recalled how she punched out everyone on the stage then went after him and his eyes sparkled briefly before they grew sad again. He missed her. At the end of the battle against Meteor, when the Lifestream swallowed up both Holy and that giant ball of flames, he thought he saw her watching over them. Just for a moment. Then she was gone. He'd seen her die, watched her sink into the pool outside the City of the Ancients where he laid her body to rest. He knew that she was gone forever and yet, for all that, he could swear he still felt her presence at times, trying to speak to him. Cloud shook his head violently. This wasn't helping!

The boy appeared in front of him so suddenly that Cloud nearly fell over him. Only his battle reflexes kept them from colliding as he jumped aside at the last instant. The boy didn't seem to notice though as he continued to run full speed into a nearby alley. Moments later a street vendor puffed into sight waving his hands in the air angrily as he cursed the 'little thief'. He slowed and came to a stop when he saw Cloud, then looked him up and down, eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"You see a kid run past here?" he growled. "Had a rice ball in his hand?"

Cloud replayed the brief image he'd seen of the boy, recalled that he had indeed been carrying something that looked suspiciously like a ball of rice in his hands and nodded. Then he shrugged.

"Yeah, he disappeared into that alley, but I don't think you'll catch him," he added.

The vendor grumbled something inaudible, shook his fist at the alley and turned to stomp back toward his cart. Cloud followed him, curious.

"Who was he?" he asked the vendor as that worthy began to pack his cooking utensils into the cart, preparing to shut down for the evening. "Does he live around here?"

The vendor shrugged.

"Naw!" He poured oil into a large vat he kept in a shelf inside the cart. "Just one of the orphans of Midgar," he said, slapping a lid on the oil pot.

Cloud frowned. Orphans of Midgar? He hadn't realized and yet the signs were all around him now that he thought about it. More than once he'd seen children wandering the streets alone, but it had never occurred to him to ask about them.

The vendor looked at Cloud. "A lot of folks lost family when Meteor showed up and wreaked havoc 'round here. Mayor Reeve's doing his best, but there's always going to be some that get lost in the cracks, ya know?"

Cloud felt something inside him lurch.

"Excuse me," he interrupted the vendor as he saw several sweet rolls being scooped off the cart into a bag. The vendor looked up. "How much will you take for those buns?" He pulled his money pouch from a pocket and started to fish inside for a handful of gil. The vendor shrugged, glanced at the orphans who were now peering out of the alley, far enough away that they would get a good running start if he took off after them again. He scowled, then shrugged and grinned.

"Aw, hell! Here! Have the left over rice balls too. I was just gonna throw them away anyways." With a flourish, he scraped the remainder of the rolls and rice balls and even a few takoyaki into a large bag and handed it to Cloud. He looked at the gil in Cloud's hand and shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Guess someone needs to help the little rug rats sometimes." He suddenly pointed his finger at the kids in the alley who were watching the proceedings with interest. "Just don't you try stealing from me anymore, ya hear?" he shouted. Then he went back to closing up his vending cart.

"Thanks." Cloud took the bag and put the gil back into his pocket. He tossed a quick salute over his shoulder and headed toward the children, who quickly ducked behind some old crates when they saw him coming their way. They peered at him as he approached and he stopped when he was a couple of meters away, uncertain what to do now. They looked like they might run at the drop of a hat, but it was also obvious by the intensity of their expressions that they were well aware of what he carried in that bag and wanted it bad enough to brave just about anything to get it. He heard a chuckle from the vendor and decided a direct approach would be best. Crouching on his heels, he pulled a sweet roll from the bag and held it out.

"Hungry?" he asked quietly. He could make out two boys and one girl now that he was a bit closer. None could've been older than five or six, he decided. He wondered what had happened to their parents and where they slept. They obviously didn't eat enough and the tattered rags they wore couldn't possibly be keeping them warm at night. One of the boys even had shoes that were several sizes too large for him. Probably found them in someone's garbage bin, Cloud thought.

His heart ached as he watched them shuffle within the shadowy confines of the alley. Finally one boy, the one he'd nearly tripped over, moved toward him, staring at the food with hungry eyes. "It's all right," he assured them. "I don't bite." He smiled encouragingly, though his eyes reflected how much it hurt him to see the children in such shape. "What's your name?"

The boy looked up at him, took another cautious step forward, though the other boy murmured a warning to him from the shadows. He jerked his head in answer to the warning and moved to within arm's reach of Cloud. Cloud didn't move, the bun held steadily in one outstretched hand and the bag in the other.

"Denzel," the boy said. Bright blue eyes met softly glowing blue ones and he stepped forward boldly and accepted the roll. He bit into it almost savagely, swallowing before he had even chewed. Then he started shoveling the rest into his mouth until Cloud was afraid he would choke. The other two children ventured forward, encouraged by Denzel's boldness and Cloud reached into the bag and withdrew another bun. He waved it in a friendly gesture at the two and they answered by running up to him and simultaneously grabbing for the sweet. The other boy reached it first and started chomping it as fast as he could. The little girl looked pleadingly at Cloud, who quickly pulled another one out and handed it to her. A brief grin flashed from her grimy face as she grabbed the sweet. Then Cloud found himself pulling out a handful of the buns in order to provide more for the boys who were already finished and looking hopefully at him.

"And what about your friends?' he asked Denzel. "Do they have names?"

Denzel nodded violently. "Of course!" he coughed between bites.

Cloud looked at the other two, his gaze finally settling on the girl.

"My name's Cloud," he said. "What's yours?"

She ducked her head shyly now that his attention was fixed solely on her and stopped eating long enough to answer, "Krysta."

"Hello Krysta. Do you live near here?"

She shook her head and looked at her feet. Cloud had a brief image of Marlene ducking behind Tifa when he tried to greet her.

"We live wherever we can," the other boy piped up suddenly, covering for her shyness. "I'm Takashi," he added as an afterthought, looking hopefully at the rapidly diminishing bag in Cloud's hand. Cloud smiled and withdrew the handful of rice balls. Their eyes grew round as he also presented each of them with a takoyaki stick. Meat was already scarce what with all the monster attacks and no transportation from any of the outlying farming communities so it was a special treat. They finished the food with relish. When he crumpled the bag up to show them it was empty Cloud heard them sigh, but they no longer looked like they would run at the drop of a hat.

"Would you mind if I come to see you every now and then?" he asked them with a serious expression on his face. Denzel actually grinned at him and nodded.

"Especially if you bring us some food!" Takashi chimed in.

Cloud reached out on impulse and ruffled Krysta's hair. She looked startled, but grinned up at him shyly. The two boys laughed, then with a wave the three children disappeared into the shadows. Cloud stared after them a long moment trying to decide what to do. Night was beginning to spread its veil over the city and the street lamps were coming on one by one. The vendor had already closed up shop and left. Cloud remembered with a guilty start that Tifa was expecting him back in time for dinner. He didn't feel particularly hungry at the moment, but he didn't want her to worry about him either. He finally nodded toward the alley, vowing silently to return as soon as he could, and headed back to Sector 1 with a troubled heart.


	3. Chapter 3

38

**Disclaimer**: Final Fantasy VII and all associated characters and symbols are the exclusive property of Square Enix and its associates.

Three…

"No!"

Cloud lunged up from bed, soaked with sweat. He raised a trembling hand to pull fretfully at his hair, subconsciously checking to make sure it wasn't long. His heart was racing and he flopped back in bed and covered his eyes, rubbing them wearily. It was a dream! He heard Tifa roll over in her own bed next door and lay still, hoping she would go back to sleep and not ask him. She did. He sighed gratefully and stared at the ceiling. What was happening to him?

Sephiroth was dead! So why was he haunting his dreams now? It didn't make any sense. What was worse, Sephiroth wasn't trying to control him like before but actually seemed intent upon taking over his body! Cloud rolled over and stared pensively at the wall. He thought he had left all that behind when they defeated Sephiroth in the Northern Crater and saved the planet from Meteor. Yet here he was again. Could Sephiroth have survived somehow? Maybe be rebuilding his body as he had once before? No! Cloud was certain he killed Sephiroth, in reality as well as in his mind. He plucked at his blanket absently, trying to think. Could the Jenova cells Hojo had implanted in him a little over five years ago still be resonating somehow to Sephiroth's memory or even Jenova? It seemed unlikely, but how else could the dreams be explained? Maybe he was going crazy again? He shook his head adamantly. He did not want to think about that!

Cloud sighed and got up. He wasn't going to get anymore sleep tonight! Crossing quietly to the chair where his SOLDIER uniform was draped, he dressed quickly then grabbed his sheath and strapped it into place. His hair was a tangled mess and the sweat had already dried, making him feel sticky, but he didn't feel like taking a shower this time. What he wanted was fresh air. Tifa's place suddenly felt too cramped and much too close to the dream for him to feel comfortable at the moment. Cloud picked up his sword, opened the bedroom door and slipped quietly down the stairs. Stepping into the pre-dawn air, he drew a deep breath and looked around. Midgar at night, or rather early morning, was mostly devoid of people. Tifa's bar was located on one of the side streets that radiated out from the center of town; halfway between it and the old Shinra Headquarters building.

Cloud set off toward the center of Sector 1, not paying much attention to his surroundings as he walked. There were a few stars still in the sky; a sight that Midgar hadn't enjoyed until Reeve shut down all but one of the reactors. It was still dark, but along with his SOLDIER enhanced muscles and an ability to heal quickly, Cloud had also acquired the ability to see quite well in the dark and his hearing was more acute, as he had found out more than once when he heard things that even Red XIII missed. Cloud had to admit that Reeve was doing a good job of restoring order to the Meteor torn city. From dropping Mako usage down to one reactor, to sending Barret and the others in search of oil and coal for the new power generators that were being built, to Cloud and the other SOLDIERS cleaning up the monsters and Shinra roboguards that still roamed the city, Reeve had earned the title of Mayor many times over.

Cloud reached the center of Sector 1 and stopped to stare at a statue that was in the process of being rebuilt. Originally it had been a statue of President Shinra but somebody had torn it down or maybe Meteor had destroyed it – it'd be ironic if it had - and the people had decided to make a memorial; a Meteor flying through the sky. It was a reminder of what they had nearly brought upon themselves by ignoring the damage they were doing to the planet. The sun peeked over the horizon, painting the buildings and statue pink and gold. Cloud shrugged and turned away. The townspeople would be waking up, preparing for the new day, and he didn't feel like company right now. He set off down the street, not particularly caring where he was headed as long as it kept him from dwelling on the disturbing dreams about Sephiroth; which wasn't as easy as it sounded. He had spent so much of his life running after Sephiroth; first as a boy seeking glory, then as a young man seeking revenge for the death of his mother and friends.

No, he shook his head sadly, that wasn't quite right.

He frowned. There was something almost obsessive about his need to confront Sephiroth. Not to defeat him necessarily or even to get revenge for the loss of Nibelheim. It went far deeper than that. In truth, it touched upon a very private part of him that he didn't really like to consider. Much of his need to confront Sephiroth was because he wanted an answer… no… needed an answer! Not just for the violence and what it meant to him and the others who died or were left for Hojo's maniacal experiments, but because he had looked up to Sephiroth, giving all his heart and soul into becoming like his idol, only to have it - and even the offered or perceived offering of friendship from the General and Zack - thrown into his face, burned down with the village and his youth. Cloud passed from Sector 1 to Sector 2 without noticing. Around him the sun illuminated store fronts and streets. The shops were opening. People had already begun to emerge from their homes for a day of shopping, selling, going to work. Life continued around him while he stood back and watched it go by.

He shook his head. He really needed to get a grip on his mood or it would get him in trouble with Tifa again! He noticed the old train station and smiled wistfully. It wasn't operating anymore. Not since Shinra dropped the plate onto the Sector 7 slums, effectively shutting down the entire rail line. Besides, there was no need for it now since the slums were empty and Shinra Headquarters was no longer being used. Funny though. He kind of missed the old trains. Most travel between Plates now was by walking, though there were some trucks and cars that delivered supplies. But walking was preferable since Midgar was merely a 'pizza', as Barret so eloquently put it, broken into eight slices that spanned a few miles at their outermost circumference and a few blocks at the base of Shinra Headquarters.

Cloud paused and glanced around. At first he didn't know where he was. Then something about the place felt vaguely familiar to him and after looking more closely he realized what it was. The street ended abruptly a few meters ahead of him and when he walked to the edge and looked down he saw part of a wrecked train hanging over the edge below and to the right of where he stood. It was the Sector 5 slums! Pipes and leftover construction equipment were scattered everywhere, making the place look more like a dump than anything else. Just around that pile of twisted metal was the church where he first met Aeris. He wondered if the two children were still tending her flowers. In the other direction was the highway President Shinra never finished which was supposed to have bridged the broken Sector 5 Plate to the Midgar Gates. Cloud remembered seeing the construction plans when he was searching through the Shinra Headquarters Library in an attempt to get the pass key from Mayor Domino. A short time later he and the others saw first hand how far the highway extended when they stole a motorcycle and truck and made a run for it.

Cloud turned away. There was nothing here for him anymore.

He'd taken only a few steps when the sound of a scream suddenly echoed in the early morning air. Jerking around, he searched the area, trying to locate the origin of the sound. It seemed to be coming from below! Cloud grabbed a piece of iron sticking out of the concrete roadway, swung himself over the edge and slipped down the wall of dirt to the slums below. Hurrying past the church, he heard the familiar sound of gnashing teeth and put on an extra burst of speed. He knew that sound. Whole Eaters!

The worm-like monster was scratching at a large drain pipe with its clawed feet, rocking it from side to side. Huddled between the pipe and the dirt embankment against which it was lodged was a girl, arms raised over her head as she tried to scrunch herself into as small a ball as possible. Cloud pulled his sword from its sheath as he ran and swung it at the razor-mouthed worm just as it shifted the pipe a few centimeters and made a lunge for her. She squeaked and the Buster Sword came down, slicing it cleanly in two. Blood splattered against the drain pipe and Cloud quickly placed himself in front of the girl, protecting her from the rest of the pack he knew would be nearby. The second Whole Eater shot over the pipe at his back and he swiveled, brought his sword up and ran the creature through, tossing the corpse away with a flick of the heavy blade. Then a third beast scuttled out of hiding, and a fourth, and a fifth! They all leaped toward him at once, bumping each other in their eagerness. One slashed at his legs, ripping the pant leg open while the other two went for his head, distracting him. Cloud whipped the blade around in an arc, fending off the one at his legs which hopped back, and continued the motion to take out the two in the air. His sword caught one by the teeth and he twisted, knocking it into the other one, then he slashed at them as they fell away. But Whole Eaters were incredibly fast despite their appearance and they managed to dodge his blow, spinning in mid-air and landing back amidst the pack. Something dripped into his eye and he swiped at it with one gloved hand as he once more took up a battle stance in front of the girl.

He was breathing hard. Sweat or blood dribbled down his face as he scanned the monsters in front of him, gauging the damage he'd done. Not enough. It was surprising to see so many together. He'd never seen more than four in a typical hunting pack before. The girl behind him squealed a warning and he ducked, twisting to one side instinctively as he felt rather than saw the creature jump from the top of the drain pipe toward his head. It was smaller than the rest; a juvenile perhaps. And it was fast! It hit his arm as he raised the sword to fend it off, slashed at him and was gone before he could bring the heavy blade around. Cloud bit his lip, ignoring the pain, and concentrated, lifting the Buster Sword over his head. When he felt the tingle of energy reach its peak, he focused it onto the tip of the sword and started swinging it in a circle above his head. A miniature tornado spread from the blade and fanned out, catching the monsters and spinning them into the air. When the limit break dissipated, so did the monsters. Cloud lowered his sword cautiously and looked around. There didn't appear to be anymore Whole Eaters, but he couldn't be sure. Not after what he'd just seen.

He was confused by their unusual behavior. The beasts were scavengers that would eat just about anything, even garbage, and usually hunted in coordinated packs of four or less. This was the first time he'd seen so many in one group and it made him wonder if there were maybe parts of two or more surviving packs that had banded together for some reason.

Cloud shook the blood off of his sword, keeping it in hand just in case, and turned to check on the girl. Her leg was trapped between the pipe and the earthen wall but she struggled to scoot backwards as he approached her, eyes wide with fear. She was thin, with dirty brown pigtails and baggy clothes; obviously somebody's cast offs. He took another quick glance around before he set the sword down within easy reach and carefully pulled the drain pipe away.

"Are you all right?" he asked softly, ears concentrating on the sounds around them as he looked at her. The girl nodded and he breathed a sigh of relief. Then he caught her staring at his arm and looked down. It was bloody from the gashes he'd received while fighting and he swiped at it. She watched him wide eyed as he showed her his arm. It had already stopped bleeding.

"It's okay. Just a scratch. See?"

Cloud rotated his arm so she could see he wasn't lying. He never ceased to be amazed at the speed with which his body healed itself. Even though he hadn't made it into SOLDIER, he did have a SOLDIER'S body and because of that he could withstand a great deal more damage than a normal human. He supposed he had Hojo to thank for that, though he would've preferred to have never met the mad scientist or been his guinea pig those five years in Nibelheim.

"What are you doing here?" He picked up his sword and glanced around carefully, aware that they made an excellent target. He needed to get her away from this place, but didn't know where to take her. "Do you live nearby?"

The girl shook her head, pigtails bobbing.

"Don't have a home," she mumbled, crawling out and patting her legs to get rid of the dust. Of course there was so much dust already in the wrinkled clothing that it only smeared it instead of removing it. She sighed and looked up at Cloud.

"What's your name?" Cloud looked into her brown eyes and his heart ached. She was so young. She looked older than Marlene, but not by much.

"Natali."

"Well, Natali, my name's Cloud and I think we should leave this place before any more of those monsters show up again, don't you?" She nodded and he glanced around once more. What should he do? Maybe Tifa…? No, wait! There was somebody close by. Cloud smiled at Natali and she turned pink under the layer of grime, brown eyes shining. He missed the significance of that, being too intent on getting her out of harm's way.

"I know someone near here who might let you stay with her… for a while at least. She's a very nice lady. What do you say?" he asked, remembering that Elmyra had returned to her home shortly after bringing Marlene back from Kalm Town where they had stayed at Reeve's insistence. Maybe she wouldn't mind taking care of Natali, at least until he could find a more permanent home for her.

He hoped.

He could talk to Tifa if that didn't work out, though it might be a bit of a strain on her what with the bar and watching Marlene. Cloud held out his hand and Natali took it with an alacrity that startled him. Her hand felt tiny in his and he wondered when his had grown so big. So much in his life had changed since he was a little boy in Nibelheim, puny for his age and too shy to even hold out his hand. Cloud looked at Natali. He would find a home for her and the others. No matter what!

"Shall we go?"

She looked at him and nodded. Cloud gripped the sword in his right hand, eyes traversing the area as they headed back through the slums. He would have to tell Reeve that the slums needed to be cleaned up too. It hadn't occurred to him that anyone would want to live here after the Sector Plates opened up above them. But there was Elmyra, and to be honest, he hadn't even thought to look around down here to see if there were others who didn't want to give up their homes, land, or livelihoods in exchange for the Sector Plates of Midgar.

Cloud led the way through the piles of trash that made up most of the Sector 5 slums. He took a moment at a crossroads to get his bearings then turned right and passed through an abandoned shanty village before he saw the familiar sun drenched green that led to Elmyra's house. His heart leapt at the sight, remembering the first time he'd seen this small paradise amid the fallen buildings and broken lives of the slums. He heard Natali catch her breath as they stepped onto a grassy path which lead up to Elmyra's house. He paused a moment to allow her to adjust to the bright sunlight, breathing deeply of the fragrant air. Flowers were blossoming everywhere. The grass had grown to twice the height he remembered from before Meteor and yet it looked the same somehow.

Seems like only yesterday, he thought to himself. He studied the fenced in field behind the house, noticing that it needed a little tending, then took a deep breath, squeezed Natali's hand lightly and walked up to the door. He knocked and Elmyra opened the door almost before he pulled his hand away. She looked startled and he guessed she was on her way out to do some shopping by the basket she was carrying and the bonnet she wore.

"Cloud!"

I'm sorry," his lips tightened a bit as he tried to decide what to do now.

Her eyes brightened. "It's so nice to see you again!" she said, before he could back out. "And who is this young lady?" she peered down at Natali. "Your girlfriend?" she teased. Natali blushed bright red and Cloud shuffled his feet, ducking his head with embarrassment. Elmyra laughed at his discomfiture, glancing knowingly at the smitten girl.

Oblivious, Cloud introduced her.

"Elmyra, this is Natali." He turned to the girl, introducing her formally, which only made her eyes shine more brightly. "Natali, this is Elmyra. She's a friend of mine."

Elmyra tried not to smile too broadly, aware of the effect he was having on the girl without even knowing it. She would never tell him, but he'd had the very same effect on her when they first met, though she had tried to get him to leave for Aeris' sake at the time. He probably doesn't have any idea how he affects the people around him, she thought to herself, and that's what makes him so special.

"I found her in the slums," Cloud continued, clueless. "She says she has no place to stay and I was wondering… well," Cloud stumbled over the words then rushed on as if speed would make it easier to ask. "…I was wondering if you would mind taking care of her for a little while until I can find her a permanent home? I'm sorry to impose on you. If you can't, I'm sure Tifa could find some room above the bar… maybe my room…"

Elmyra hugged him briefly, felt him stiffen in surprise and released him then looked at the girl.

"Nonsense! Come in, come in! Natali, was it? Have you had breakfast yet?" She set the shopping basket down just inside the door and swung it wide as she said, "Well, I have a few left over eggs and some bread I was saving for a special occasion. Why don't you run upstairs and wash up?" Elmyra gestured toward the stairs. Natali glanced at Cloud, who nodded. She gave Elmyra a look that suggested she didn't want anyone hugging Cloud and vanished up the steps to the second floor. Elmyra stifled a laugh and listened until she heard the girl moving around upstairs. When she heard the sound of the bathroom door creaking open, she turned back to look at the blonde SOLDIER standing at a loss just inside her front door. He scratched his head and shrugged; an all too familiar gesture.

"I'm sorry," he said again. "If it's too much of a bother, I'm sure I can find somewhere else. It's just…"

"Never you mind, Cloud," she assured him. "She's fine right here. To tell the truth, I was feeling a bit lonely." She glanced at him, her head cocked to one side. "Have you eaten yet?"

He looked down, remembering that he had forgotten to grab a bite to eat before slipping out of Tifa's.

"Not really," he admitted sheepishly. Elmyra smiled and gestured toward the kitchen sink.

"Then wash up and have a seat. I'll have something ready in a few minutes." She started bustling about the room, collecting pans, eggs, and a fresh baked loaf of bread she'd made earlier that morning. She found that she was sleeping less as she grew older and rather than sit around with nothing to do half the night, she had taken to baking to pass the time. Now that she had two hungry people to feed, she was glad of her nightly cooking.

"Where did you find her?" she asked as she cracked several small chocobo eggs into a pan.

Cloud finished washing his hands. He'd stuck the bloody gloves into his belt and was taking care not to let them touch any of Elmyra's furniture. He settled lightly into one of the chairs at the table, shifting his sword so that it hung to one side.

"She was trapped by a few monsters on the other side of the village. She said she doesn't have a home and I didn't know where to take her, so I brought her here. I hope it isn't too much of an imposition…" his voice trailed off and Elmyra turned to look at him as the eggs started to sizzle.

He looked troubled and she pursed her lips, biting off the casual reassurances she was about to utter. There was more to this than just one girl with no home, she sensed. She waited as he put his thoughts in order. When he looked up, his softly glowing blue eyes pierced right through her, much as Aeris' eyes had done. They were so alike in many ways and she wondered what would have happened if Aeris hadn't died. Would they have…?

No! Elmyra stopped that train of thought. What was past was past; there were no ifs! But she found herself looking more closely at his eyes, searching for something… familiar.

"Elmyra?"

Her heart skipped a beat and she turned quickly to tend the eggs as her nose told her they were starting to burn. He went on quietly, letting the awkward moment slip by.

"I've been noticing others… children… orphans of Meteor who've been living in the streets of Midgar." He fell suddenly silent, not sure if he should continue.

Elmyra scooped the eggs into a bowl, put a thick slab of butter on a dish and, grabbing a butter knife and three plates, carried everything to the table. She set them down and went back for the tea, cups, and milk for Natali. Once the table was set for a proper meal and she had poured tea for Cloud, Elmyra settled into a chair and waited for him to continue. He stared at the table, obviously struggling with himself. She thought she had a pretty good idea what he wanted to say, but waited patiently for him to get the courage to ask. When he finally looked up, his expression was so earnest that her heart just melted.

"I want to do something for them," he said. "And… I was hoping that you might help me."

Elmyra looked down at her lap. She heard Natali coming out of the bathroom upstairs and quickly nodded her head.

"Leave it to me, Cloud. I can take at least a few of them. This old house has grown a bit lonely."

Cloud's relief was evident. He smiled at her and she found herself blushing like a school girl. Natali came down the stairs. She had straightened her hair. Probably used Aeris' brush, Elmyra thought to herself. There were a lot of things which Elmyra had been unwilling to part with. She even had the clothes Aeris had worn on the day her mother left her in Elmyra's care at the train station. She noticed that Natali had taken time to wash, not only her hands and face, but she had even attempted to rinse out the dirt caked on her clothes, which had left them damp and clinging to her thin body. Cloud turned and gestured her to the chair next to his and Natali hopped up obediently, glancing at Elmyra to be sure it was okay. Elmyra nodded, smiling to herself. Tifa was going to have some competition if she read the signs right. Poor Cloud. She pushed the bowl of eggs across the table to him and he offered some to Natali, piling the fluffy white delicacy onto her plate until she nodded for him to stop. He had no idea that he had won the heart of this young girl, just as he had captured Aeris' heart, and he wouldn't have known what to do if he did. He was the most unpretentious person Elmyra had ever met, and she loved him for it.

"So, Cloud!" Elmyra cut a thick slice of bread and passed it across to Natali, then cut another for Cloud. "How many are we talking about?"

Cloud looked nonplussed for a moment as he thought about it.

"I'm not sure," he finally admitted. "I've only seen three others that I know for certain are orphans… Well, not for certain, though I'm pretty sure…" he trailed off. "I guess," he swallowed a mouthful of eggs, wiped his lips, and continued, "there might be several." Cloud stopped eating as he tried to recall how many children he had actually seen wandering the streets. How many had looked ragged, underfed, or downright starved? He couldn't be sure but it seemed that he had seen at least five or six, maybe more.

"At least five or six," he finally said. "Probably more."

"Hmm." Elmyra considered how many beds she had, then she added futons and mats to that and came up with six places. "I think I can handle five or six, including Natali," she added, smiling at the girl. Natali looked up from a forkful of eggs. She had buttered bread in her other hand and was alternately shoveling them into her mouth as if her belly had forgotten what food was. The girl glanced between Cloud and Elmyra with a suspicious look, and Elmyra guessed that she wasn't going to take too kindly to being left behind.

"That would be great." Cloud brightened. "I'll help out as much as I can. I've got some money," he stood up and reached into his pocket. Elmyra tried to stop him, but he ignored her and poured out all his remaining gil onto the table. "I'll bring more," he added quickly, "And I can do some work around here too."

Elmyra laughed. She couldn't help it. He looked so earnest, like a child promising to take care of a puppy if he could only keep it. She sobered quickly when he sent her a questioning look and shook her head.

"You don't need to do that, Cloud. I don't mind. This house needs a family again and I could use the company. Just bring them by and I'll find a place for them."

Natali's mouth dropped open and she looked panicked. She turned to Cloud, who noticed. He turned and looked very seriously into her brown eyes.

"Elmyra is a nice lady. She'll take care of you. And I'll come by and visit you as often as I can, all right? I promise."

"You promise?" she demanded.

His eyes sparkled and he held up his pinky. "I promise."

His large finger gently wrapped around her small one and they made the solemn vow, much to Elmyra's amusement. Then he rose and nodded.

"I've got to go now, but I'll be back," he said to both of them. He saluted Elmyra and went out the door, closing it quietly behind him. When he was gone, Elmyra looked at Natali.

"Well!" she wiped her hands on her apron and began to collect the dishes. "Why don't you help me clean these dishes first, then we'll go find something for you to wear." Natali's eyes took on a rebellious expression and Elmyra smiled. "You want to wear something nicer than those rags when he comes back for a visit, don't you?"

That had the required affect. Trust a young girl's heart, Elmyra thought with a smile, and her vanity.


	4. Chapter 4

46

**Disclaimer**: Final Fantasy VII and all associated characters and symbols are the exclusive property of Square Enix and its associates.

Four…

Cloud climbed out of the Sector 5 slums with a hopeful heart. Elmyra was a good person and he felt that she would make an excellent surrogate mother until he could come up with a more permanent arrangement. Perhaps some kind of foster home program or something. If not, then maybe he could get an old abandoned building and convert it into an orphanage. He wasn't quite sure how he would manage that, what with the delivery service to run and other small jobs he might get from Reeve.

Hmm. He'd have to think about that. He'd never tried to run an orphanage before, or anything else for that matter. Maybe he could ask Reeve for some advice. Either way, he wouldn't know until he tried and he had to try. It was not a choice for him any longer; it was an imperative. He couldn't just sit idly by and watch the children, who had been affected by his actions with Sephiroth and Meteor, be left behind and forgotten. They needed homes.

Cloud found that his feet had led him straight back to the spot in Sector 2 where he first ran into the vendor and the three children: Denzel, Krysta, and Takashi. He located the vendor right away and nodded briefly to him before he started searching the nearby alleys and empty lots. To his disappointment, there was no sign of them. He stopped, trying to think where a small child might hide during the day, Then began a systematic search of the area again, this time checking under buildings, ease ways, alleys, dumpsters, and empty boxes. Nothing. Finally he gave up with a sigh and went over the vendor.

"Excuse me," he said when the customer ahead of him took her package of buns and left. "Have you seen the orphans from last night around here?"

"Orphans?" the vendor scratched his head. "Oh yeah! I remember you!" he suddenly exclaimed. "You got the leftovers from me. Those rug rats, eh? Nope, haven't seen 'em around. Sorry." He shrugged and turned as another customer walked up.

Bewildered, Cloud wandered away. What should he do now? Tifa would probably scold him for leaving without letting her know where he was going. And he still had to check in with Reeve to see what he wanted. He'd reported on the monster situation via cell phone the night before, but Reeve had asked Cloud to visit him personally. Evidently he had something he wanted to talk about that couldn't be discussed over the phone. Cloud had no idea what it could be, but this would give him a chance to bring up the problem with the orphans and the monsters he'd found in the slums.

He turned and headed back to Sector 1, keeping his eyes open for Denzel and his friends along the way. There were several children playing in the streets, but they looked well fed and he doubted they were orphans.

The streets of Midgar were laid out like the spokes of a wheel with Shinra Headquarters at the very center. But as one reached the outer edges of Midgar, the streets broke up and began to radiate out from one sector to another, connecting the eight sections, or rather six since the Sector 7 Plate had been dropped on the slums and the Sector 5 Plate had never been completed. Turning right, Cloud worked his way toward the wider edge of Sector 1. Reeve had set up a temporary office in an abandoned building that used to be the local theater. The sign was still hanging on the marquee over the door. Reeve joked about it when they returned from the Northern Crater and saw where he was stationed.

"Loveless," he commented. "Seems appropriate somehow. It's a job that's pretty thankless at the moment and I don't think anyone's going to love any authority in Midgar for a while. At least until we get this place running smoothly again."

There were several offices above the stage which Reeve and his staff had taken over. Shinra Headquarters was too badly damaged after Meteor and the attack from Diamond Weapon destroyed nearly a third of the building. And anyway, it still held a bad reputation for the citizens of Midgar, so Reeve hadn't even tried to reinstate it as a permanent or even temporary government building.

Cloud stopped and looked up at the Loveless sign. He remembered the first time he saw it, back when he originally joined Barret and Tifa in Avalanche. It was right after they blew up the Number 1 reactor, when everyone was running around and he was hurrying back to Barret's hideout, that he met a beautiful green-eyed girl in a pink dress selling flowers. She asked him if he wanted to buy one and he didn't know what to do. He'd only been in Midgar a short time, though long enough to realize that flowers didn't grow there. The earth beneath the city was dead because of the amount of Mako energy Shinra was drawing for its electricity, and it was a rare thing to see plants growing in Midgar, let alone beautiful flowers like the ones she was holding.

On a whim he bought one and took it back to Tifa's bar. He teased Tifa a bit back then, giving the flower to Marlene, both because the little girl was so shy and because he sort of wanted to make Tifa feel like he had those many years ago when she ignored him. It was a foolish notion; a spur of the moment decision that didn't even faze Tifa, though Marlene was obviously tickled by the gift. Cloud remembered Barret storming in and hoisting his daughter to his shoulders before he noticed the flower in her hand and asked where she got it. He seemed so different when he was with Marlene. Like a loving father, not the querulous Avalanche leader who wanted to save the planet at any cost. When Barret heard she got the flower from Cloud, he glanced suspiciously at him then carefully instructed his daughter to thank Cloud, which she dutifully did, though she hid her face from him as soon as the words were out.

Cloud remembered wondering at the time what it would've been like if he'd had a father. Would things have ended up differently? He didn't know. His mother had always seemed so distant, as though she resented him or something. Oh, she provided him with clothes, food, and a bed. She even gave him occasional advice, like when he announced he was going to Midgar to become a SOLDIER she suggested he settle down instead with an older woman. Why? He'd never asked her, and now he never would. She was dead, like all the rest of the villagers at Nibelheim, except for Tifa. Tifa was his only remaining connection to his past and she was living in Midgar now.

Cloud shifted the sword on his back to a more comfortable position and walked toward the theater building. Funny. There were so many memories here; Aeris selling her flowers, the sound of the reactor as it exploded, soldiers running around in confusion, and a great red beast who talked. At the time Cloud only cared about the money he was making as a mercenary. So when did that change? When Tifa asked him to stay? When Aeris was captured because of him? When President Shinra dropped Sector Plate 7 on top of the slums? He didn't know, but being a mercenary had taken on a whole new meaning to him as the needs of the people began to seem more important than the money.

Cloud noticed several troopers guarding the entrance as he walked up the steps of the theater. People were allowed to go inside, unlike Shinra who kept everyone out, but there were still remnants of the old regime left behind. One disgruntled SOLDIER Second Class had killed several troopers before a SOLDIER THIRD who was loyal to Reeve stopped him with the help of two troopers and a net.

Cloud held his arms out to his sides as he approached the troopers, leaving his sword in its sheath. Two of them recognized him though and grinned, waving enthusiastically.

"Cloud!"

"Hey, Cloud!" they greeted him simultaneously.

Cloud looked at them a moment before their names popped into his head. Harlee. And the other one was… Krim! That's right!

"Hello Harlee, Krim," he greeted them with a nod, lowering his arms to his sides. "How are you doing?"

Harlee gestured the other troopers to back off as they approached with weapons drawn. "It's all right," he assured them. "This is Cloud; the one who saved the planet."

Cloud shook his head. "It wasn't just me," he corrected quietly, but Harlee continued as if he hadn't heard. "I hear you polished off all those monsters roaming around Midgar." He turned to the others. "He took on Sephiroth single handedly and even stopped Meteor! This guy's pretty famous, so you might want to remember him. Reeve said to let him inside whenever he wants. No need to check him for weapons or anything either. Reeve's orders." He turned back to a thoroughly embarrassed Cloud and beamed at him.

"So, what are you here for? Need to see Reeve?" Cloud nodded. The other men were giving him uncomfortably awe struck looks and he wished Harlee had kept quiet.

"He asked me to report in."

"Right! I'll take you to his office. It's upstairs in the back. Krim! Take over for me and don't let anyone in until you've checked ID and performed a full scan for hidden weapons, okay?" Krim saluted, winking at Cloud, then turned to shepherd the other troopers back to their posts. Cloud ducked his head and hurried after Harlee. He noticed that his SOLDIER uniform was still sporting Zack's belt. He'd forgotten to buy something to cover it up. Oh well. Too late now, he decided. But after he was finished with Reeve, he would definitely go to the nearest accessory store!

They went up a flight of stairs and down a long narrow hall. There was a desk in front of the door to Reeve's office with a secretary guarding the entrance. She brightened when she saw who it was.

"Good morning, Mr. Cloud," she greeted him. Then, before he could correct her, she got up and went to open the door. "He's been waiting for you. Please, go right in!"

"Thank you." Cloud tapped his forehead in brief salute and she blushed as he went past her into the office.

Reeve was sitting behind a wooden desk covered, no… swamped… with papers. He looked up over the pile and beckoned for him to sit down. Cloud crossed to the desk and held out his hand. Reeve shook it, his grip firm, though Cloud realized he could easily crush it if he wasn't careful. It felt strange for him to have to be careful around people because of his strength. And it was ironic as well. He had left Nibelheim in search of glory and power, to be as strong as Sephiroth. Now he was, and he realized that strength also had its weaknesses.

Who was it who said that being strong was painful too? He couldn't remember. Or had he just imagined he heard it? Cloud shoved the thought away and settled into the chair in front of the desk. He studied Reeve. The man had spent so much time with him and his friends in the form of Cait Sith that he thought he knew him pretty well, but the disparity between the human and his stuffed toy counterpart still made Cloud feel a bit uncertain.

Reeve leaned forward, carefully shoving a pile of papers aside so he could see his visitor better. "It's good to see you again, Cloud," he said in a deep voice, so different from the squeaky, heavily accented voice Cait Sith used. "Sora reported that you finished cleaning out the monsters. I want to thank you." Something in Cloud's eyes stopped him and he paused. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Um," Cloud squirmed, looking around the office as he hunted for the right words. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that."

Reeve stared at his friend. He had seen Cloud through the eyes of the robot cat, Cait Sith, which he had had made long ago in order to keep an eye on Dio at the Gold Saucer. But the start of his true adventure began when he used Cait Sith to betray the members of Avalanche by stealing the key to the Temple of the Ancients and handing it over to his employers. He had learned so much more in their company than in the entire time he was employed by Shinra as a City Manager and he felt he owed them a lot.

"What can I do for you?" he asked.

Cloud ran his fingers through his hair distractedly and Reeve suddenly caught his breath. How many times had he seen Cloud do that and not made the connection? He leaned forward, brows furrowed in concentration as he studied his friend's features from an entirely new perspective. The blonde hair - a bit more gold colored - blue eyes, even the facial features were similar! How could he have missed it? But then, he chided himself, how could he have known? He'd heard that Rufus was the only son of President Shinra. And yet there had been gossip even back when he first started working for Shinra Inc. that the President's private secretary went on extended paid leave about the same time Rufus was born. It was rumored that she left per the instructions of the President himself and had gone away with a newborn baby when Rufus and his mother were sent to a lodge in the mountains nearby. What was that secretary's name again? He couldn't remember. No wait! It was… Maia Hana Stori… Storife… Strife! My god! Reeve tried to imagine Cloud's spiky hair lying flat against his head and the image fit perfectly. He sat back, his gut feeling like it had been punched, hard!

Cloud noticed Reeve's expression and blinked. "Reeve?" he asked, worried about his friend.

The new Mayor realized his mouth was hanging open and snapped it shut. Should he tell him? But it was only a suspicion and besides, at this point it wouldn't make any difference. It might even make things worse. He decided not to say anything. If it was true that Cloud was Shinra's legitimate heir it would put him in an uncomfortable position at best. At worst… Reeve shook his head. No! Rufus was dead, or at least he had disappeared after the attack by Diamond Weapon. And President Shinra, his father, had died at the hands of Sephiroth. Reeve decided to check on his own time. He glanced at the stacks of records, official documents, and reports on his desk and changed that to 'whenever he could find the time'. Cloud might not want to know that he was related to Shinra, but then again it couldn't hurt to know for certain just in case the subject ever came up. Reeve had learned long ago that it was better to be prepared for the impossible to happen, than to hope it didn't and get blindsided by it unexpectedly.

"Oh, nothing," he shook his head, shrugging it off with a grin. "Just had a silly notion is all. Now, you were saying?"

"I noticed that there are still monsters in the slums…" Reeve raised an eyebrow. Cloud shrugged. "I heard a scream," he explained, without really explaining at all. "Anyway, I was worried that there might be people still living in the slums, like Elmyra…" he stopped abruptly as Reeve's fist slammed onto the desktop, shaking the papers and threatening to topple them over.

"Damn! I knew I was forgetting something!" He looked at Cloud, a miserable expression on his face. "I'm sorry, Cloud. I just detailed a squad of troopers to go to Kalm Town next week. There've been rumors of an increased number of monster attacks there recently. And I just don't have enough left to tackle the slums."

"It's all right," Cloud shrugged. "Maybe we can just warn the citizens. I'm sure there aren't many living there. And I'll be visiting Elmyra as often as I can…" He paused. "There's something else I wanted to ask you about…"

Reeve looked expectantly at him, but Cloud's face turned suddenly pensive. Reeve waited. The young SOLDIER had always been kind of quiet, but lately it was like trying to pull teeth to get anything out of him. Of course Reeve knew like the rest of the company that Cloud wasn't actually a SOLDIER, though he had gone through the same basic process. But he had seen plenty of SOLDIERS during his employment with Shinra and Cloud was more of a true SOLDIER than the best SOLDIER First Class Shinra had produced, save maybe Zack.

Cloud picked at a tear in his glove, pursed his lips, then looked up and blurted, "It's about the orphans… I…I wanted to know if we could do something about them?"

Reeve's expression remained neutral, but there was a sinking feeling in his belly. He knew this would come up sooner or later. He'd hoped later. He just didn't have enough resources to take care of all the people who'd been affected by Meteor. He didn't like to see children forced to scrounge the streets for a living, but the problem existed even before Meteor and there was nothing he could do about it at the moment. It must have shown on his face because Cloud sighed and raised a hand to wave it off, pretending it wasn't that important though Reeve knew otherwise.

"That's all right. I'll come up with something…" Cloud's voice trailed off. He took a deep breath and changed the subject. "So, what did you need me for?"

Reeve coughed, feeling small for what he was about to ask. But it was what he had called him here for, so there was no getting out of it.

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to head up that squad I'm sending to Kalm Town?" He looked down at the stacks of paper on his desk. "Traffic has been slowed to a standstill because of the frequent monster attacks. We need the supplies and there aren't any helicopters that survived Meteor, so…" he smiled weakly.

"Actually I was thinking of starting a delivery service," Cloud admitted. "I've already ordered a bike and I was thinking of setting out some flyers or something. Maybe you could send Sora? He's a SOLDIER Second Class…"

Reeve laughed out loud. "I'll do that. So I guess we'll both have to make do on our own, eh?"

Cloud nodded. He stood up and shook Reeve's hand. Then resettling the sword at his back, he turned and left, closing the door quietly behind him. Reeve scrubbed at his hair, glaring at the stacks of paperwork. They weren't going to get done by themselves. He looked back at the closed door. If Cloud and Rufus really were twins then they were as different as day and night. Probably one of the kindest things President Shinra could have accidentally ever done was to send Cloud away from Midgar, where the Shinra influence wouldn't distort his values like it had Rufus'. It might have been the single, most important factor in the survival of the entire Planet. Funny to think the old loony might've had a hand in saving the very planet he was trying to destroy.

"Ester!" he called his secretary via the intercom.

"Sir?"

"I want you to do something for me." Reeve chewed his lip as he tried to think of the best way of saying this without saying too much. "I want you to send a small detail of ex-Shinra employees to the Shinra Headquarters Library and have them search for anything pertaining to Shinra and a Secretary named Maia Hana Storaife. Also I need all you can dig up on Rufus Shinra and his mother, Adella."

"Yes sir."

Reeve heard the question in her voice, but she was professional about it and didn't ask. He didn't offer any explanation.

"Thanks." Reeve released the intercom button and scowled at the stacks of reports on top of his desk. He grabbed a paper off the top of a nearby stack. The pile wobbled dangerously and three papers fluttered to the floor. He cursed quietly. It was going to be a long day.


	5. Chapter 5

60

**Disclaimer**: Final Fantasy VII and all associated characters and symbols are the exclusive property of Square Enix and its associates.

Five…

Three days later Cloud descended the stairs to find Sora waiting at the door with a big grin on his face. Cloud hesitated, but Tifa was right behind him and he couldn't retreat back up the stairs.

"Cloud!" Sora hailed him gleefully, eyeing Tifa with more than just casual interest.

At the same time Tifa looked at Cloud and said, "Who's this? A friend?"

"You betcha, miss!" Sora interjected before Cloud could open his mouth. "My name's Sora, SOLDIER Second Class! We fought side by side taking out all the monsters in this here town, didn't we buddy?" he crossed the room and wrapped a friendly arm around the smaller man's shoulders, winking at Tifa. Cloud stiffened, but didn't move away. He was getting used to Sora's unwanted familiarity. Tifa looked at the two of them and tried to hide a smile.

"I see," was all she said. Cloud's suffering look only made it that much harder to keep a straight face and Tifa walked to the bar and started pulling glasses out of the cupboards in order to hide her amusement.

"Wow! You sure can pick 'em!" Sora whistled appreciatively, nudging Cloud in the ribs as he spoke in an exaggerated whisper. He pulled away suddenly and stared at Cloud. "What's with the new outfit?"

Cloud cringed. He looked down at the cloth that wrapped around his waist and fell down over his left leg from front to back, effectively covering Zack's belt and giving him some anonymity. The clothing store owner had said it was the latest fashion and he thought it would help him blend in, but now in the face of Sora's critical gaze he wasn't so sure. He picked at the material, trying to think of an adequate excuse, but Sora continued on blithely.

"Guess what! The bike's finished already! Pop got a few of his friends together… guess he was excited by the design and all… They worked round the clock till it was done and boy is she a beaut!"

Tifa stopped setting glasses on the counter and looked at Cloud. He'd told her that he ordered a bike and she had helped him put together a few flyers to start up his business. In fact, she had discussed how much he should charge just last night when they got the first request for a delivery to Kalm Town. He had been considering turning it down until he could get hold of some type of temporary transportation. Now the bike was ready just in time.

"I'll call Mr. Yamino about the delivery," she said to Cloud, tipping her head in Sora's direction with an impish grin. "You don't want to keep your 'buddy' waiting."

Cloud scowled at her. The SOLDIER SECOND gave her an exaggerated bow, waggled his eyebrows, and started pushing Cloud out the door.

"Yeah! You don't want ta keep me waiting. Man! You've gotta see it! This baby'll get you across the continent in nothing flat! And space… Let me tell you…!"

When they were out the door, Tifa broke into a fit of giggles and had to stop putting glasses out until she stopped. It pleased her to see that Cloud had made a friend, though she knew he wasn't sure how to handle this outgoing SOLDIER. She hoped he would hang in there and learn to be more open. It worried her that even though Sephiroth was dead and his mind seemed to be free of the headaches and other stuff that power crazed monster had thrown at him, he still remained painfully shy and unsure of himself.

Tifa could sense that something was bothering him. He'd been keeping to himself a lot more lately and she'd caught an unusual look in his eyes when he watched her working at the bar, as if he was afraid of something. It seemed to have started about the same time he had that bad dream and she wondered if it was connected somehow. But she was reluctant to confront Cloud about it, afraid that he would only duck the issue and tell her everything was fine like he always did.

Marlene came down the stairs rubbing her eyes and Tifa smiled. "Good morning, sleepyhead!" she greeted her.

If Barret was Marlene's father by default, then Tifa felt like she was Marlene's mother by convenience. She kind of liked the idea of having children and had always welcomed Marlene, even back when Avalanche was just beginning. In fact, she'd been sort of an iterant mother to all of the Avalanche team - Jessie, Wedge, and Biggs - until Aeris appeared. She frowned. Things had gotten a lot more complicated then. It wasn't just her doubts about Cloud, but doubts about herself as well that had finally driven her to join Avalanche on their mission to kill Sephiroth and save the Planet. Tifa didn't know what it was about Aeris, but she felt threatened by the flower girl. There was some kind of special relationship she shared with Cloud that Tifa couldn't begin to understand, as if they had known each other in a previous life or something, and Cait Sith's fortune-telling fiasco in the Temple of the Ancients hadn't helped matters.

"Tifa?" Marlene's voice interrupted her thoughts and she looked down at the girl. "Where did Cloud go?"

Tifa studied the girl who had survived the death of her parents, braved a kidnapping by Reeve at Shinra's orders, and run with Elmyra to Kalm Town during the final days of Meteor. She was no longer the shy little girl who couldn't say 'hi' to Cloud and ran and hid behind Tifa's back. She had grown so much in such a small amount of time; less than a year. Tifa shook her head. It seemed like ages since those carefree times when Avalanche plotted and planned to take action against the 'all powerful, planet killing, money sucking Shinra'. She smiled. They had been good times with good people. Many of them were dead now, but their wish had come true, mostly thanks to Cloud's perseverance though he would never admit it.

"He went to pick up the motorcycle," she explained. Marlene's eyes grew round with excitement.

"Do you think we can see it?" she asked.

Tifa nodded. "I'm sure he'll bring it back here. He still has to pack for the trip to Kalm Town, right? I know! Maybe you can ask him for a ride when he gets back!"

Marlene thought about it and Tifa could almost see the gears working as she considered how to get Cloud to give her a ride. The girl was precocious to say the least, but not pretentious. Marlene crossed to the bar, still thinking, and started mixing drinks for the morning customers. Tifa's eyes sparkled as she went to open the doors. Their regulars would be arriving any minute now. Tifa had learned from Wedge that her cooking was more than adequate and had decided to offer meals as well as drinks at her establishment when she opened the new Seventh Heaven bar in Sector 1. Cloud encouraged her when she first mentioned the idea to him and now it was a regular routine each morning to clean the drinking glasses, mix fresh juices and some drinks, and start a pot of seasoned meat and vegetables cooking.

The first customer through the door, however, was a SOLDIER Third Class.

"What a babe!" Sora slapped his thigh as he led Cloud toward Sector 4. "Is she available?" he asked, half teasingly. Cloud stopped and a warning look replaced the bewilderment in his eyes.

"Tifa is the owner of the Seventh Heaven and a good friend of mine," he answered quietly. Sora felt a shiver run down his back and his father's words echoed suddenly in his mind.

Scary guy, he thought, wondering just how many fights Cloud had been in. Sora had seen a few skirmishes here and there before being assigned to monster detail by Mayor Reeve but those had just been to round up some thieves who were attacking travelers near the gate. He'd also done some boring guard duty at Shinra Headquarters while the new President, Rufus, was out looking for some Promised Land or whatever. But looking at Cloud just now, he realized he was seeing the battle hardened eyes of a true warrior locked inside a troubled young face and glowing, green-tinged blue eyes that were as deep as a bottomless pool of mako.

"Just kidding!" he backpedaled, hands outstretched as if to ward off a physical attack. Cloud turned away, shaking his head.

"I'm sorry," he pinched his eyes shut with one gloved hand and sighed. He looked at Sora, expression abruptly back to its more familiar troubled look. "She's just a good friend," he explained.

Sora gulped, heart still racing. He felt like he'd just been confronted by one of those fabled Master Tonberry thingies and it took a moment for him to regain his equilibrium.

"S'all right,' he drawled, hiding the fear in his eyes with a casual shake of the head. He waved in the direction of his father's shop but this time made sure to keep his hands off of the SOLDIER First Class. "Oh! And don't worry! Your secret's safe with me!" With that he jogged ahead of Cloud down the street. Cloud, looking perplexed, followed after him unsure what secret Sora was referring to.

"Glad you could make it!" Jim Kokoro shook hands with Cloud and led him into the back of his shop. "I got some of my friends together and told them about your bike. They were so excited they all pitched in and now it's ready a whole week ahead of schedule."

"Aw, Pop! Why don't you just admit you were the one who was excited?" Sora jeered at his father's back. He was back to being a clown, much to Cloud's relief and discomfiture. He couldn't figure out the SOLDIER Second Class.

Jim chuckled.

"You're right," he admitted. "I had some good ideas, but the project was a real challenge I can tell you!" Cloud followed him through the office into a much larger workroom where several bikes were in various states of repair or construction. Cloud's eyes went immediately to a sleek black motorcycle in the center. It sat crouched like a predator waiting to pounce. Cloud stopped and stared at it. Both Jim and Sora watched him as he slowly approached the bike. He glanced questioningly at Jim just to be sure it was his and the bike shop owner nodded.

"We sort of out did ourselves this time," he said, walking forward to show Cloud all the special accessories he'd built into the bike.

"Sort of!" Sora sputtered. "You went all out! Admit it!"

Jim shrugged and pointed to the front of the bike. Cloud moved closer, ignoring Sora's outburst.

"It's basically the same bike as Shinra personnel used but with a few modifications. As you can see, this chassis will protect it against the elements and most physical and magic attacks. I used a dual wheel arrangement in front to give you better stability on uneven surfaces. And for the mail I built a large compartment behind the seat, here," he touched a button under the seat cushion and a panel slid aside, revealing a hidden compartment. Cloud gauged how much would fit in it and gave a nod of approval.

"Starter, accelerator, brakes…" Jim rattled off the standard features, pointing to where they were on the console. Cloud was about to ask about the swords when Jim pressed a button on the side of the sleek black cowling. Both sides of the bike suddenly fanned open like a pair of wings, displaying compartments cleverly concealed inside and Cloud caught his breath when he saw three metal brackets slide out of each wing. The brackets were easily big enough to hold any of his heavy bladed swords. He pulled Zack's Buster Sword from the sheath at his back and gently inserted it into one of them. Jim touched the button again and the brackets slipped back inside the wings which closed up, leaving nothing but a very large, shiny black motorcycle.

"Wheeeww!" Sora whistled, impressed. "I didn't get to see those!"

Cloud had to admit to himself that he also was awed by the bike. He looked at the shop owner, who nodded, eyes alight with obvious pleasure and a fair measure of pride.

"Think that'll do?" he asked, already seeing the answer in the SOLDIER FIRST'S eyes. Cloud reached out and ran his hand along the black cowling. It was smooth until he reached a spot directly above the hand grips. There he felt something like tracings in the metal and he leaned over to view it from a different angle. His eyebrows went up as he saw what looked like a wolf's head etched into the surface.

"My own design," the shop owner grinned, walking up to pat the bike with a loving hand. "I call her Fenrir; a mythological wolf. Thought it was appropriate."

"Fenrir," Cloud said softly, looking at the bike. It did look like a wolf, crouched and ready to strike. He nodded and pulled out his bag of gil. "How much?"

Jim cupped his chin with one hand and Sora started laughing. He was leaning around his father in an attempt to get closer to the bike, obviously wishing he could get his hands on it.

"Fifteen thousand gil," Jim finally answered.

Cloud looked questioningly at him a moment then nodded and drew a handful of gil from the bag. He placed the handful in his pocket and set the bag down on a nearby worktable. Jim handed him the key without even counting and Cloud took it, mounted the bike and started it up. The engine rumbled, making the floor vibrate beneath them. Jim motioned for his son to open the garage door which led out into the street and Sora obeyed, pouting. Cloud revved the engine a couple of times to get a feel for the power and accustom himself to the controls, then gunned the engine and shot out into the city. Jim watched how he leaned the great bike around the ninety degree corner ten meters past the driveway before disappearing into the surrounding neighborhood and nodded his head in approval. Sora gazed longingly after the departed bike as he shut the door again. He walked up to his father as Jim Kokoro picked up the bag of money.

"Aww man! I want a bike like that!"

"Not in my lifetime!" Jim growled at him. "You wouldn't know how to handle that beast even if I did. Hmmm." He hefted the bag, then upended it and counted out the coins. Instead of the common silver coins with a square hole in them, he saw that they were larger, round, and edged with gold. "Well I'll be damned!"

"I could too! You never even let me try …! What?" Sora stopped whining as he realized what his father was looking at. His eyes widened as he saw how many hundred gil pieces were there.

"That rascal," Jim chuckled quietly to himself. "Guess I wasn't as smart as I thought."

"What!" Sora demanded, curiosity piqued.

"Nothing." The shop owner slid the money into a drawer under the table.

"Come on! How much did he give you? I know it isn't just fifteen thousand."

"Nope. More like fifteen hundred thousand."

"Whaaa! Fifteen hundred…"

"…thousand," Jim confirmed to his idiot son. "Now go pack up. I thought you said you got reassigned?"

Sora stared at him with round eyes, muttering, "…hundred thousand…!" then he looked up and realization dawned. "Oh, cripes! You're right! I was supposed to be there…" he looked at his watch, "…in five minutes! I am going to be so late! My men are gonna laugh at me the entire trip to Kalm…!" his voice trailed off as he dashed through the door and down the hall to the house. Jim looked one more time at all the gil shining in the drawer then shut it, shaking his head in amusement at being caught out in his own mistaken generosity and followed his son into the house.

Cloud motored through the streets of Midgar, getting the feel of the new bike. It was very similar to the Shinra motorcycle he had stolen before, though there were obvious differences. The weight for one thing. It was much heavier because of the suspension. The swords would add more weight but not a significant amount. It felt surprisingly good to be riding on the machine. He'd forgotten how exhilarating it was to ride and took his time driving back to Tifa's place.

He was halfway home when something flashed in the corner of his eye. He turned and glanced back. A flash of dirty red drew his attention to an alley where something small and quick had darted. Stopping the Fenrir, Cloud looked into the shadowed corridor between two houses and saw a small familiar figure; two actually. It was Takashi and Krysta, if he wasn't mistaken. Cloud leaned the bike over and drove slowly toward the alley. He got off, kicked the stand down, and walked toward the opening. The two shadows started to move away, but then paused as they recognized him.

"Cloud!" Krysta greeted him excitedly.

Cloud smiled, glad that he'd found them. He looked around but didn't see Denzel.

"Hello Krysta, Takashi," he said, nodding to them. "Is Denzel here also?"

Krysta shook her head. She clasped her hands together nervously.

"He went to get some bread," Takashi explained, moving up beside the girl.

Cloud frowned.

"Where?" he asked. "I found a place where you could stay, if you want to," he added, by way of explanation. Their eyes widened in surprise and a little fear. "It's all right," Cloud reassured them. "Elmyra lives in a big house with lots of space to play and I promise I'll make sure you get plenty of food and new clothes."

"And toys?" Krysta asked shyly.

Cloud was startled. He hadn't even thought of toys, but it was something he could do for them. He nodded. "And toys," he agreed.

"Promise?" Krysta's eyes shown with excitement and even Takashi seemed to like the idea though he tried to look nonchalant. He was a boy after all and boys didn't need toys or stuff.

"Promise." Cloud made a mental note to check the shops. Maybe he could bring something back from Kalm Town when he delivered the package from Mr. Yamino. "Where did Denzel go for bread?" he asked.

Takashi shrugged. "Don't know. That's just what he said when he left. He's been gone most of the day now."

Cloud frowned. He was worried, though the two children didn't seem concerned by Denzel's absence. "Well, shall we go look for him on my new motorcycle?" he asked them, nodding over his shoulder at where he had parked the Fenrir. The two children followed his gaze and nodded in unison, rapt expressions on their faces. He smiled.

"Right! First we'll search for Denzel, and then I'll take you to see Elmyra."

"Yay!" Takashi jumped up and down excitedly and ran to the motorcycle, looking it over though he made sure not to touch it.

Cloud reached down and held out his hand to Krysta. She took it, tentatively, then her tiny hand squeezed hard as if she'd never let go. He smiled at her and together they walked after the older boy. Takashi looked up at them when they arrived, his whole body expressing his desire to touch the machine. Cloud scooped him up one-handed and set him on the seat, Krysta still holding tightly to his other hand. He swung his leg over the bike, settled himself behind Takashi, picked up Krysta and set her firmly between them. When both were settled comfortably and safely, Cloud reached around them and started the motorcycle. It coughed and roared to life, vibrating beneath their legs. Takashi let out a whoop as he felt the great machine roll forward and a breeze puffed his hair into his eyes. Cloud hooked his right arm around them both, holding them tight, let out the throttle and the bike sped away towards the Sector 5 slums.

They didn't find Denzel, much to Cloud's disappointment. But he did think to stop by a shop where they sold children's clothing and bought Takashi and Krysta one outfit apiece, their choice. Takashi picked out a pair of brown pants and a shirt and Cloud also got him shoes and socks since his were several sizes too large. Krysta had trouble choosing. The shopkeeper tried to show her several dresses she thought might look good on the little girl and finally bit her lip when it became obvious that Krysta wouldn't or couldn't decide. At last she gave up and looked at Cloud. He'd been staring at one dress which brought back unbidden memories of a time when it was necessary for him to wear something similar himself. She noticed and, mistaking his reflections for interest, pulled the dress out and wafted it in front of Krysta.

The girl too had noticed Cloud's attention and touched the silk kimono gingerly. It felt soft. She looked up at the blonde SOLDIER and Cloud shook himself out of his reverie. This particular kimono was purple, not blue, and it looked pretty. He smiled, nodding, and the shopkeeper sighed with relief. She led the little girl into the dressing room to try on the dress while Cloud stood outside and waited with Takashi. A few minutes later, they came out and Takashi started to laugh at how girlish she looked. She turned pink, a nice shade that went well with the dress. Cloud walked up to her and dropped to one knee so he could look at her eye to eye. Her green eyes met his blue ones, embarrassed, but he smiled encouragingly.

"It's very pretty," he said. "Do you like it?"

Krysta nodded, eyes shining as she shuffled her feet. The shopkeeper had also found a pair of matching shoes with tabi socks that fit. Cloud approved.

"Then we'll buy it." Cloud rose and pulled out the remainder of his money. He'd have to stop by the bank before taking his new charges to Elmyra's. He needed to leave some more for her to take care of the extra children. The shopkeeper took the hundred gil piece with a raised eyebrow, made change, and he led the children back outside to the Fenrir. It took a bit of arranging to fit Krysta on the motorcycle with her new dress on. He finally decided to sit her on the bike side-saddle. Encircling his arm around both of them, he started the motorcycle engine and kicked the stand up. Steering the Fenrir one-handed wasn't a problem since it only required that he lean it to right or left. The handle bars were mostly there for him to hold onto something while he was driving. Cloud did a last check to be sure the children were safe, kicked the bike into gear and headed toward Sector 5, this time using the road that circled down from the Midgar Plates to the inner gateway where one could access either the slums or the outer Gates.

Natali was picking flowers in the garden when Cloud arrived. She jumped up and ran toward him, pigtails bouncing then stopped when she saw that Cloud had company. She stood with the flowers in one hand and waited as he pulled up next to the house. Letting first Takashi then Krysta off the motorcycle, he turned off the engine and kicked the stand down. When he looked up and saw Natali, he smiled and walked toward her with his two charges in tow.

"Natali!" he greeted her and Krysta looked up at him then at the older girl. They exchanged looks which he totally missed as he stopped in front of her. "This is Takashi and Krysta. They'll be living with you from now on. Can you take care of them for me?"

Cloud's words diffused the situation without him even knowing it. Natali smiled at the two newcomers, feeling like the older sister, still first in Cloud's eyes. She nodded and took Krysta's hand to lead her into the house just as Elmyra stepped out, drawn by the rumble of Fenrir's motor.

"Cloud! How have you been?" Elmyra wiped her hands on the apron around her waist and looked at the newcomers with interest. Cloud bit his lip, unsure whether he was doing the right thing all of a sudden. She noticed his hesitation and laughed.

"Don't worry!" she assured him. "I have beds ready. In fact, I managed to find a few extra futons. There's plenty of room. You did say five or six, right?" she asked over her shoulder as she led the way inside.

"That's right," Cloud was relieved. "I couldn't find Denzel, but I'll keep looking. I have some money for you, for the food and stuff." He reached into his pocket. There was a new bag of gil which he had withdrawn from the bank. His battles across the world in search of Sephiroth had made him and the other members of Avalanche rich, though he had little use for the money. His needs were few and Tifa was providing him with a home for now so… It had been Tifa's suggestion that he put it in the Midgar bank. Now he was glad he hadn't just donated it all away as he'd first intended.

Elmyra frowned at him. "You don't need to do that!" she argued, waving her hand vigorously at him. He ignored her and placed the entire bag on the kitchen table.

"I'm sorry I can't help around the place just now. I have my first job delivering a package to Kalm Town. When I get back, I can…"

"Never you mind that!" Elmyra interjected. "I've got three sets of hands now to help out around here. You just tend to your business and say 'Hi' to Tifa and Marlene for me. Maybe bring them by sometime for a visit."

"But…"

Elmyra glared at him for all of five seconds before she broke into a broad smile. "Honestly, Cloud," she said, setting a cup of tea on the table for him. "I have all the help I need."

The blonde SOLDIER sat down and took a sip of tea. Natali was showing the others around the house and he watched them for a while then looked up, startled, as Elmyra sat down next to him. There was pain written in his eyes and she knew that he was recalling another time; someone else showing him around, gently chiding him when he tried to sneak out, and ultimately insisting on joining him when he finally did make his way to the Sector 6. He looked lost and Elmyra bit her lip. She hadn't meant to be cruel when she asked him to leave back then.

"You're thinking she'd still be alive if you hadn't come here, aren't you?" she said quietly. He looked away and she nodded. "I thought so." Elmyra reached out and gently touched Cloud's shoulder. He winced.

"Aeris was always a strong-minded girl. She did just what she wanted to… which was usually the right thing," she added. "Don't blame yourself, Cloud. I'm sure she doesn't."

Cloud looked at her. The glowing eyes reminded her of Zack. But where Aeris' first boyfriend had been a lighthearted flirt this one, who appeared similar in so many ways, always seemed a bit sad as if he'd been through hell and barely survived the trip. Elmyra caught herself sinking into the blue depths that were filled with a quiet sort of despair. Then he blinked, breaking the spell, and she took a deep shaking breath. He didn't even notice. Setting down the teacup very carefully, he stared at his hands a moment, remembering how he had tried to kill Aeris with them. He shook his head suddenly and rose.

"I need to get back," he mumbled, and left without another word. The sound of the motorcycle starting up reached Elmyra a few seconds later. She listened as it rapidly faded into the distance, then sighed and stood up.

"Aeris," she said to the empty room. "If you can hear me, help him before he falls apart."

Without even counting the money, Elmyra took the bag and tucked it into a shelf near the stove. Then she went to check on the kids and show them where they would be sleeping. Two girls and one boy! It would be interesting.

Tifa was waiting at the door when Cloud returned to the Seventh Heaven. She stood with her arms crossed, but the smile on her lips betrayed her mock impatience. She took in the new motorcycle with appreciative eyes and when she looked up, Cloud's features were already set into a pleasant mask.

"I found two of the orphans," he said as he got off the bike. He pressed the button that released his sword and Tifa gasped as the wings sprang open and the brackets slid into view. Cloud drew the Buster Sword out, slipped it into the sheath on his back, and pressed the button again. The wings closed up and Tifa grinned at him.

"Wow!" she exclaimed. "You'll have to take me for a ride on it sometime! But first we need to get Mr. Yamino's package to Kalm Town." She searched the bike for saddlebags and Cloud obligingly touched the button under the seat, opening the courier compartment. Tifa nodded her approval when she saw how much space there was. It would hold the package and then some. Which reminded her…

"Oh! You had a visitor this morning. A SOLDIER. He left this for you." She handed him a letter. "He said you'd understand."

Cloud took the letter. He glanced at it then looked at Tifa, a question in his eyes.

"Sora?"

She shook her head, long hair swinging around her shoulders. She'd had it cut when they returned to Midgar after the Meteor incident, but it was still pretty long; below her shoulders; and she wore it loose now instead of tied up in a ponytail. There was no need to keep it out of the way any longer, since the only fights she had were the with occasional rowdy customer and that was rare now with her reputation.

Cloud shrugged and opened the letter. Tifa looked over his shoulder and read with him.

Mr. Cloud Strife, it has been reported to me that you are currently living in Midgar as a delivery person. I am interested in procuring your services for special transport of an item that is both dangerous and vital to me and the person I work for. Because of certain mitigating circumstances, I am unable to meet with you personally so I have sent this SOLDIER in my place. If you are reading this letter, then he has performed his duty satisfactorily. A letter of instruction will be awaiting you at the Kalm Town Inn.

There was no signature.

Cloud looked up at Tifa, who raised her eyebrows in confusion.

"Sort of mysterious, isn't it?" she said.

Cloud turned the letter over, studying the paper, but it gave him no answers as to where it had come from or who sent it. The wording suggested someone with a cultured background, not your typical soldier. He wondered what the dangerous but vital item was that he was being requested to transport. He shrugged.

"Guess I'll find out when I reach Kalm Town," he said, carefully folding and tucking the letter into his pocket. He looked up as he caught movement out the corner of his eye and saw Marlene standing in the doorway staring at the motorcycle. He shoved the troubling letter to the back of his mind and smiled at her.

"What do you think?" he asked.

Tifa turned in time to see Marlene's lips spread into a slow grin. She bobbed her head in approval, Aeris' pink ribbon fluttering from her braid. Tifa had found it in Cloud's room shortly after they returned to Midgar. She asked him about it, recognizing it immediately, and he had shrugged it off saying it must've gotten stuck in his pocket. She knew better but didn't try to force the issue. He had given it to Marlene the next day and she'd worn it every day since then.

Marlene ran up to Cloud, grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the Fenrir. Bewildered, he followed, and Tifa covered her face with one hand to hide a smile. She watched in amusement as Cloud was forced to show the little girl everything on his new bike. When he finished, Tifa quickly turned and went into the bar, ducking behind the counter before they came in hand in hand. Cloud was smiling his usual shy smile which Tifa loved so much. Marlene was downright triumphant.

"You promise!" she called to Cloud as she joined Tifa behind the bar. He nodded solemnly before climbing the stairs to his room. Tifa heard him bumping around for a few minutes before he descended the steps with a stack of swords in his arms and went out to the bike. When he came back empty-handed, Tifa knew he had filled the brackets inside the bike's wings. His next trip upstairs took a little longer and Tifa was busy tending customers when he once more made an appearance, carrying the package from Mr. Yamino that she had left on his desk, as well as a small bag of supplies for the trip. She waved at him as he went out and he tapped his forehead with his fingers in a brief salute before vanishing through the door. The rumble of the motorcycle announced his departure. It was only then that she remembered the dinner she'd set aside for him. Tifa glanced at the covered plate and frowned. Oh well, she shrugged as she turned to help another customer. He'd probably find something on the way.

-------------------------

To my very first fan, Spazzy the Blindfolded Angel. Thanks for keeping me in your favs and letting me know how you like the story. It gives me the courage to keep sending in new chapters, and writing them! And to anonymous Sephiroth fangirl. Keep reading. He's a bit slow, but Seph will definitely take front stage and I don't think you'll be disappointed.


	6. Chapter 6

78

**Disclaimer**: Final Fantasy VII and all associated characters and symbols are the exclusive property of Square Enix and its associates.

Six…

Cloud looked down as his stomach growled and realized belatedly that he'd forgotten to eat before he left Tifa's. The sun was just beginning to dip toward the horizon as he rode through the Midgar Gates. The gatekeeper waved at him as he passed and Cloud waved back, remembering the hunt he'd gone on just to find the silly keys. After using them several times to sneak into Midgar, Cloud finally returned them to their rightful owner. From that point on the gatekeeper let him through day or night without question. As Cloud rode into the early evening shadows, the landscape that greeted him was nothing but rocks and desert as far as the eye could see. Bare cliffs and hidden canyons broke up the view; a hazard to the unwary traveler.

It was a desolate landscape. Shinra Company and their excessive use of Mako truly had sucked the life out of the land, just as Barret said, and Cloud figured it would take years for the planet to heal the wounds left behind; not counting the ones created during all the frantic battles between the Weapons, Sephiroth, and his own little band. Cloud's lips turned down. Despite all their high and mighty ideals about wanting the save the planet, they had ended up doing nearly as much damage as Sephiroth.

He shook his head at the thought. It couldn't be helped. At least it was all over and maybe now the planet and its inhabitants could take the time to heal. Cloud watched as darkness began to settle across the land like a blanket. Weaving the bike in and out of rock formations and boulders, he kept an eye out for a good place to camp for the night. He'd made a late start and didn't want to get caught riding at night. Not when monster attacks had increased enough for Reeve to send troops to Midgar's neighboring town, Kalm. He didn't really mind the thought of sleeping beneath the stars though. He'd done it more times than he could count during his search for Sephiroth and anyway, lately he was beginning to feel like he was suffocating at Tifa's. Not so much because of her, but because of the disturbing dreams involving her. He needed to get away for a while; put things into perspective and this would be a good time to do it.

He didn't know what made him look up. He just felt his heart skip a beat and his eyes automatically pinpointed a spot on one of the many cliffs ahead of him. Then he realized why. It was where Zack died defending him after he broke them both out of Hojo's lab at Nibelheim. It didn't look any different from the dozen or so other cliffs and promontories inside the Midgar valley, but he KNEW this one and his chest ached as if someone had stabbed him with his own sword. He glanced behind him at Midgar then up at the cliff, slowing the motorcycle down without thinking. They'd been so close, so why? Why did Zack have to die? It seemed a cruel irony. Zack had left him a painful legacy and a burden as well; to go on living when everything he cared about was taken away. It wasn't until later, in the Midgar slums, that he found a reason to live again and to fight.

Cloud turned away and stared fixedly at the road ahead.

Sometimes he felt like Zack was still with him, even though he had buried the SOLDIER First Class with his own hands. He remembered scratching the dirt up in fistfuls as tears ran down his face, or was it the rain? He couldn't remember. He thought he used Zack's sword too, but couldn't be sure. And then, when he finally tried to lower his friend into the shallow grave he had dug, he found he couldn't bear to let him go and ended up holding Zack in his arms for a long time. After that, the world faded and he dreamed he was floating in an ocean of gentle green light where the Voices whispered nonsense to him like they had so many times before. Only this time, one voice spoke his name.

CLOUD?

Strangely he continued to hear the voice which he now thought might have been Zack's. First in the Number 1 reactor when it warned him the place wasn't an ordinary reactor and that he should watch out for the Guard Scorpion's tail. Then again, when he fell into Aeris' church in the slums. It had slowly brought him back to consciousness, encouraging him to get up while reminding him gently that he just needed to take it one step at a time. It was very reminiscent of Zack's chiding voice during the interminable truck ride to Nibelheim when he encouraged Cloud to 'Hang in there'. And when Cloud didn't recognize Reno, the Turk who arrived at the church to collect Aeris for President Shinra, the voice informed him of who and what the Turks were. So many times he felt the voice's gentle council in his head that he had come to expect it, but after several run-ins with Sephiroth, the voice had gone strangely silent, almost as if Sephiroth's voice and Jenova's had shut it out somehow.

Cloud shook his head angrily. This wasn't the time to be reminiscing about the past! He had a future to think about, like making this delivery to Kalm! And there were the orphans. He passed the cliff and skirted several rocky outcrops. There should be a place somewhere around that spiral formation of rock, if he wasn't mistaken. He would set up camp there and get some sleep.

They appeared out of nowhere. One minute there was nothing but rock and weeds, the next four Fangs were standing fanned out in the dirt road ahead of him. Cloud hit the button to release the swords and yanked the Buster Sword from it bracket, but the beasts scattered as soon as they saw him. He watched them, making sure they were really gone before he lowered the sword. At least he had a chance to try the sword delivery system. It was efficient and much easier than carrying the heavy blade on his back all the time. He slipped the sword back into its bracket and the wings snapped into the sleek sides of the bike, hiding it from view. Cloud made a wide turn around the rocks into which the Fangs had disappeared and continued on his way, keeping a sharp eye out in case something larger than a pack of Fangs showed up. There were thieves, bandits, and the odd malfunctioning roboguards Shinra had been so fond of, as well as other monsters native to the area that might prove troublesome.

Cloud located the hollow among some rocks a hundred meters further on and pulled the bike over. Parking it at an angle to provide some cover from night predators, he sat down with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and leaned against a boulder, sword in hand. The sounds of the night became a haunting lullaby and his senses sifted and sorted through them until he was certain there was nothing unusual. Thousands of stars twinkled in the cobalt sky and Cloud stared at them a long time before he fell asleep. This time there were no dreams to disturb him and he awoke refreshed the next morning at dawn. After a quick breakfast of crackers and dried fish, he rose, stretched, and looked around the shadowed cliffs for any sign of monsters. After he was sure that there was no immediate threat, Cloud folded the blanket - stowing it in the space behind the seat - and slipped the sword into its bracket.The Fenrir awoke with a growl as he hit the ignition switch and he eased back onto the dirt road andheadedit toward Kalm. At this rate he should reach the village by noon.

On a nearby cliff, hidden in the shadows of a small stand of scrub oak, a dark man in a red cape watched silently as Cloud passed by beneath him. Red eyes glowing faintly as they reflected the rising sun, he watched until his young friend vanished in the distance then turned and faded back into the trees.

The convoy of trucks - Cloud counted three amid the dust devils - was parked in the flatlands only a few kilometers from Kalm Town. They were bunched together as if they had come to a sudden stop and several troopers were milling about. Then Cloud saw the reason for the dust swirling around the trucks and pulled out the Buster Sword. He leaned the bike over, tapped the accelerator and headed toward the trucks as fast as he could. What he had first mistaken for a dust storm was in fact a very large pack of Fangs attacking the convoy; at least seven of them! And scattered among them were other monsters unusual for this part of the continent; Ark Dragons if he wasn't mistaken.

Cloud spotted Sora among the men that were fighting and aimed the Fenrir through the bouncing sea of furry backs toward the SOLDIER Second Class. The monsters parted before him like water, closing ranks immediately, and started leaping at him even before he came to a stop. Cloud slashed at heads and legs as the beasts tried to knock him off the bike and they fell back, giving him just enough room to drive the remaining few meters to Sora's side. He leapt off the Fenrir, kicking the stand down in the same motion, and ran toward the SOLDIER, swinging his sword at everything that moved. The monsters were so tightly packed together that he killed one without even trying and wounded two more. Blood sprayed everywhere, but he ignored it as he moved up beside Sora. TheSOLDIER Third Class was slashing attwoFangs that were harrying his exposed side. He glanced up from the battle long enough to see who the new arrival was, grinned a welcome and went back to hacking as more Fangs lunged at the three troopers he was trying to protect. The troopers bravely fired their rifles at the monsters, though their weapons were woefully inadequate to the task. The wolf-like creatures easily dodged the bullets and even the ones that were hit took little to no damage.

"Cloud!" Sora greeted him between swings. "Good timing!" He hacked at a Fang that sailed toward his head, knocking it down. Cloud slashed at another one that followed close on the heels of the first, but it leaped out of the way, dodging back into the pack before he could do any damage.

"Where do you need me?" he shouted over the howls of the monsters and the firing of the guns. Sora nodded to where a handful of troopers were putting up a desperate fight on the other side of the truck from him.

"Could use a little help there!"

Cloud nodded curtly. He caught a Fang by the teeth with the blade of his sword and twisted, breaking the beast's jaw. Throwing it away from him, he turned and hurried around to the other side of the truck in time to see an Ark Dragon blow flame at the troopers there. They yelled and fell back, one of them batting frantically at his clothes which were smoking. Cloud quickly assessed the situation. There were seven troopers, a captain, and what appeared to be a SOLDIER Third Class by the design on his belt. They were fighting against an Ark Dragon and three more Fangs he hadn't seen when he rode up to Sora. Two men were down. He couldn't tell how badly they were injured. The SOLDIER THIRD looked ragged and was breathing hard as he cut his sword downward in an attempt to deflect an Ark Dragon's claw attack. He was standing in front of the troopers, trying to protect them as best he could but Cloud could see the battle was taking its toll. A Fang suddenly leaped from the roof of the nearest truck and sailed towardthe SOLDIER THIRD'Sunprotected head.

"Behind you!" Cloud yelled. He slashed at the creature but it twisted in mid-air and landed a couple of meters away. The SOLDIER THIRD took a swing at it as it passed, missed, and glanced back at him. He gave Cloud a weary nod and raised his sword to fend off another attack. Cloud took up a defensive position beside him, lips pinched in concentration as he tried to keep track of the milling beasts. None of the troopers had swords, Cloud noticed, which left most of the fighting up to him, Sora, and the SOLDIER THIRD.

"Sir!" a trooper shouted behind Cloud. He turned in time to see a large bird drop from the sky toward them. There was no time to identify the thing. Cloud concentrated, building up as much MP as he could, and sent a Bolt 2 spell at the monsters hemming him in on one side. While they were jumping back to avoid getting fried, he turned and raised his sword to hack at the bird. It dodged. The damned thing was pretty nimble for its size! It flew above Cloud's head and whipped its wings into a blast of wind that pummeled the men. Cloud covered his face with his sword, blinked, then ran up as soon as the wind attack died down and slashed at the beast. It wasn't fast enough to dodge him this time and fell to earth, body sliced cleanly in two.

"Yyaa!"

Cloud turned quickly to see the SOLDIER THIRD slashing at a pair of Fangs which had taken his moment of distraction with the bird as an opportunity to press their advantage. One of them went down but the other dodged the sword and bit the SOLDIER before it rejoined the pack. Cloud had never seen so many monsters working together in one concerted attack! And there weren't just Ark Dragons, he noticed, but a couple of Castanets as well; giant crab-like monsters from the Mythril Mines. It was crazy! The truck was covering his back, for now, but at the rate the monsters were attacking, it wouldn't last for long. Cloud focused on the one Materia crystal he'd retained when he gave his remaining Materia to Yuffie, built up his MP once more and lashed out at the monsters nearest him. One Fang vanished, vaporized by the intense lightning attack, while two others fell back with severe burns and singed fur. Cloud glanced back to check on the troopers. They were bravely trying to fend off the creatures that got past the SOLDIER Third Class. Two went down as a Castanet slipped between their legs and slashed with a scissor spark attack. It scuttled away before the troopers had time to react.

"Do you have any Materia?" Cloud shouted to the SOLDIER THIRD.

"No! I came in after Shinra went on the hunt for Sephiroth!" he shouted back.

"Damnit!" Cloud swung his sword as two Fangs dashed in and they danced back out of reach just in time. A third one managed to get a solid bite to his leg while he was distracted and Cloud brought the hilt of the blade down on its head. It yelped and fell back then circled around, looking for a way to get to the weaker troopers behind the SOLDIERS.

"You can say that again twice!" the SOLDIER Third Class agreed, breathing hard. He was sweating but holding his own and Cloud grinned at him.

"Hang in there!" he shouted, ducking an Ark Dragon's claw attack. He turned the edge of his blade sideways and slashed one of its legs off.The monster fell away, bleeding profusely. "Just cut them down one at a time if you have to! I'll watch your back!" Cloud looked at the troopers. They were staring at him in awe but he had no time to worry about that. "You guys cover us! Aim for the heads and keep firing!" he instructed them. "It takes awhile, but you'll kill them eventually if you keep hitting the same spot. Okay?"

They nodded in unison and their captain rallied them into some semblance of order, pointing out where to shoot while leaving Cloud and the other SOLDIER to handle the rest.

"What's your name?" Cloud asked the SOLDIER THIRD.

"Johnson, sir! Sam Johnson!"

Cloud nodded. He slashed at a Fang that got too close, and called back, "Not sir. Just Cloud." He concentrated all his energy into his sword. When he felt the tingle that told him his limit break was ready, he leapt into the air and slammed three of the Fangs with a Meteorain attack. Two of the monsters died instantly while the other one ran away limping. The remainder of the pack suddenly made a united rush toward them and out the corner of his eye, Cloud saw Sora running up to help. He moved aside to give the other man room and together the three of them hacked and slashed until the rest of the creatures were either dead or retreating. The troopers yelled excitedly. They had successfully taken down a Fang and an Ark Dragon and were congratulating themselves, happy to have been useful. Cloud smiled. At one time, he too would have been dancing with the heady feeling of success that followed a battle. Now he was so used to it that it no longer felt like an accomplishment.

"Thanks Cloud!" Sora clapped him on the back then yanked his hand away like he'd stuck it in a fire and looked sideways at the SOLDIER FIRST to see if he was upset. Cloud sent him a questioning look and he broke into a triumphant grin to hide his momentary lapse. "Guess we showed those little beasties, eh?" He turned to the others and shouted, "Good work! Now tend to the wounded and check the supplies! We need toget to Kalm Town pronto!"

"Yes, sir!" the troopers and Sam Johnson quickly moved away, giving the SOLDIER FIRST and SECOND some privacy.

"Good guys," Sora said. He shook his head, looking at the ground littered with bodies. "Damn! I didn't think these things moved in such large packs!"

"They don't usually," Cloud assured him, wiping the blood from his leg to assess the damage. It wasn't too bad. "In fact, I hadn't heard that Ark Dragons or Castanets ever came this far north. They usually stay in the Mythril Caves. And I've never seen Fangs hunt in packs bigger than three or four." He shook his head, confused.

Sora looked at him. "The Mythril Caves? You mean the mines? You actually been there?"

Cloud shook his sword clean and looked up at him. "Yeah, a few times, why?"

"No… nothing," Sora turned away, hiding his incredulity. Every time he bumped into this guy he learned something extraordinary about him. Maybe his old man was right. And maybe some of the battles Cloud didn't care to remember weren't with men either. "Just surprised is all," he admitted. "I've never been to the Mythril Mines. I heard there was something called a Zolom in the marshes around there and it was impossible to get through and that even if you did get into the mines, it was really dangerous."

"Well, you're right about the Zoloms," Cloud assured him. He walked back towards his motorcycle, Sora following like a rapt puppy dog. "They are extremely dangerous, but the Mythril Caves aren't really that bad once you get inside. Hardly any monsters to speak of."

"I wouldn't call Ark Dragons and Castanets 'hardly any'!" Sora exclaimed.

Cloud shrugged and grinned sheepishly. "Well, there weren't that many when I was there." He straddled the bike, sword ready in his right hand and looked at Sora. "You want me to ride with you the rest of the way? I'm on my way to Kalm Town too."

"Would I!" Sora shook his own blade, but the blood wouldn't come off as well as it did Cloud's and he scowled at it. "Traitor!" he muttered at the Hardedge. Cloud smiled.

"You need to keep the edge sharper, and taper it a bit toward the point," he suggested, remembering his own troubles with the Hardedge blade he had stolen and used for a short time in Midgar. It was called a hard edge, but in truth it was more like a blunt edge as far as Cloud was concerned and he had quickly traded it for a better sword once he reached Kalm. "You should buy a Mythril Saber when you reach Kalm. Even if you don't have Materia, the blade's better made and will last a lot longer."

"Thanks, I'll do that!" Sora swiped his sword clean on a tuft of weedy grass. He sheathed it then looked from the Fenrir to the convoy of trucks and his lips twitched. "Man, what I wouldn't do for a bike right now. Those trucks… I swear they have the worst suspension! Even a chocobo would get motion sick in one of those!"

Cloud couldn't help but laugh and Sora looked at him with a calculating expression.

"You know about them? Seems like you've ridden in 'em before."

"A few times," Cloud admitted. "I didn't much like them either." He started up the motorcycle and waited for Sora to climb back into the lead truck. When they moved out, he followed, riding behind and a little to the right of the last truck so he could keep an eye on the entire convoy, glad that he wasn't riding inside any of them. He no longer got motion sick. He wasn't sure why. But he still hated the idea of being cooped up inside a truck where he couldn't see earth and sky around him and worse, he couldn't see if any monsters were coming. Too many battles chasing Sephiroth around the world had made him leery of places that didn't give him a 360 degree view.

They arrived in Kalm without any further mishaps and Cloud saluted Sora as he rode past the trucks, headed for the house on the far side of town where he was supposed to deliver the package from Mr. Yamino. The woman who received it was delighted and offered him tea, but he politely refused. Right now he wanted nothing more than a hot bath and a soft bed. He rode back to the Inn,parked the bike and grabbing his supply bag went inside to check and see if they had a room to spare. They did. But when he gave the clerk at the desk his name the lady looked up in surprise.

"Mr. Cloud Strife?" she asked. He nodded, curious. "I have a letter here for you, sir." She fumbled beneath the counter and drew out a large envelope, passing it across to him. Cloud looked at it a moment. Then he remembered the letter in his pocket. He'd forgotten it in all the excitement.

"Thanks." He took the envelope and went upstairs to his room. After a hot bath to relax sore muscles, he returned to his room and opened the envelope. There was a map inside, along with a letter of instructions.

Mr. Cloud Strife, if you are reading this letter, then you have accepted my commission. Inside you will find a map which will lead you to the location of a certain crystal. It is highly toxic and will need to be acquired with care. The crystal is red in color and shaped like a candle flame. It can only be found inside a special chamber in the Mythril Mines where a frozen waterfall resides. When you have the crystal, please follow the map's instructions to Healin Lodge. Leave the crystal in a leather bag beneath the sign. You will find your payment there also. Do not attempt to enter the Lodge as it will be taken as an attack and dealt with accordingly.

Cloud reread the letter, then studied the map. He knew the Mines fairly well and remembered a chamber that fit the description. But he didn't remember seeing any red crystals inside it. He raised a curious eyebrow. Folding the map and letter carefully, he put both into his pocket with the other letter. Tomorrow. He would set out at dawn. He'd need a chocobo to cross the marshes so a trip to the Chocobo Ranch would be in order. For now, the bed looked inviting. He was just about to lie down when his stomach growled; loudly! He grinned, rubbing it absently. That's right. He hadn't eaten anything more than a few crackers and fish in the last twenty four hours. No wonder his stomach was kicking up a fuss. He sighed and headed out of the Inn. There was a bar nearby that served hot meals. He'd grab a bite first then enjoy a night in a real bed.

Cloud heard them before he stepped inside and almost turned back, thinking an empty stomach couldn't be as bad as a group of drinking troopers. But the hollow feeling in his stomach argued otherwise and he finally screwed up the courage to go inside. A raucous chorus of voices assaulted his ears as he paused just inside the doorway and looked around. Some of the troopers were sitting at the bar, regaling the bartender with their adventures, while the rest sat with their captain and Sora at a nearby table,listening raptly to the SOLDIER FIRST'S tales of dangerous monster encounters in the streets of Midgar. Sora looked up the moment Cloud entered.

"Cloud!" he shouted a greeting, swinging his drink in the air as an invitation to join them. Cloud sighed, wanting nothing more than to just slip away to the back room and have a quiet bite to eat, but he knew that the SOLDIER SECOND wouldn't leave him alone until he'd made the requisite exchange of greetings. Reluctantly he headed over to Sora's table.

"Have a seat, buddy!" Sora gulped down half of his drink, slammed the mug onto the table and wiped his lips with the back of his hand. "I was just telling these newbie's what it was like fighting monsters in Midgar. Seems they never seen a monster before!" He laughed at his own joke.

Cloud looked at the troopers and smiled. "I'm not surprised," he said quietly. "I never saw a monster until I left Midgar on my first assignment."

The troopers stared at him and one broke into a grin.

"Yeah, Sora!" he piped up. "Not everyone gets assigned to tackle monsters. Most of us weren't trained for anything more than guard duty!"

Sora scowled at him and the trooper gulped, wondering if he'd overstepped his bounds, but Sora suddenly broke into a laugh and thumped the man between the shoulder blades, making him cough fitfully. The others laughed too and toasted both the trooper and the SOLDIER.

"Have a seat, Cloud," Sora pushed a trooper out of his chair and drew it up for Cloud. The ousted trooper laughed and grabbed another chair from a table nearby, plonking down into it as close to the two SOLDIERS as he could get.

Cloud hesitated. "I really need to eat…" he tried to back out, but Sora insisted.

"Aw, come on, buddy! Just a few drinks!" Everyone looked expectantly at him. Cloud squirmed a bit but finally sat down to the applause of those nearest him. He turned red and everyone laughed. Sora signaled the bartender to bring another round of drinks. "What're you having, Cloud?" he asked. "It's on me!"

"Just juice," Cloud muttered. Sora's eyebrows almost disappeared beneath his cropped bangs.

"Juice!" he shouted, loud enough for everyone within a hundred kilometers to hear. "Come on, this is a celebration! At least have a real drink!"

"All right," Cloud gave in. "Top with a spin on it," he told the bartender. This time Sora's eyebrows did disappear.

"Wheew! You sure know how to party, don't you! Give me one of the same," he told the bartender. He elbowed Cloud. "We'll get blitzed together, eh, buddy?"

Actually, Cloud knew he wouldn't get blitzed, but he didn't intend to tell the garrulous SOLDIER SECOND. He wanted to get it over with so he could have dinner and go to bed. If he could make Sora drunk enough, maybe he could slip away without being noticed.

"Hey, Sora! You gotta girl?" a trooper across the table suddenly asked. The men on either side of him leaned forward eagerly. Obviously the speaker had won, or rather lost, a game of dare and had to ask Sora the question.

"Course I got a girl!" Sora exclaimed, acting offended at the notion that he couldn't get a girl. "I got lotsa girls waiting in line back home!"

"Yeah, right!" somebody laughed. "And my sister is one of them!" Everybody laughed. SOLDIERS had a certain reputation among the military for being womanizers.

"How about you, sir?" a trooper asked Cloud. Sora looked at him expectantly and he dipped his head, embarrassed.

"Of course he's got a girl. He's a SOLDIER FIRST CLASS!" Sora interrupted, as if that was supposed to have anything to do with finding a girlfriend. "Hottest one in Midgar, right?" Sora grinned knowingly at Cloud, poking him in the ribs with his elbow. Cloud was getting tired of having his ribs bruised. He moved away surreptitiously, trying to get out of range, but the press of troopers hampered his attempts. He looked up as the bartender came with the new round of drinks and gulped his a bit faster than he intended. Sora watched him with respect in his eyes then took an equal gulp so as not to be outdone in front of his men. He hiccupped, coughed, eyes watering, and grinned sheepishly. The others laughed at his discomfiture, relaxing in the warmth of the tavern. The horror of the monster attack seemed far away now, which was what their captain had intended when he suggested they take a break at the tavern. He looked at Cloud and Sora.

"So who is it?" he asked. His men immediately quieted down so as not to miss a word. Sora had a tendency to shout, but this SOLDIER FIRST was a soft spoken man and they wanted to hear him.

Cloud looked nonplussed. Was Tifa really his girlfriend? He didn't think of her that way.

"What's she like?" one of the troopers, who Cloud had instructed to shoot at the monsters' heads and gotten a killing shot in because of it, was emboldened to ask.

"Is she cute?" another chimed in.

Sora put his drink down when he saw that Cloud wasn't going to answer and shouted, "Of course she's cute. Duh! I said she was the hottest babe in Midgar. You know the Seventh Heaven bar?"

The soldiers looked at each other. "Yeah."

"Of course! I eat breakfast there every morning just to look at her."

"Oh, come one! Not that one!" another wailed, looking stricken.

Sora nodded, grinning. "The very one, right Cloud? And he even lives there! Oops!" Sora turned beet red. Shoving the mug into his face, he swallowed a large mouthful of the liquor as he remembered his old man's warning, too late. "Sorry," he whispered to Cloud, coughing.

"Congratulations!" one trooper waved his own mug in the air in salute and took a deep swig.

"You gonna get married?"

"Yeah! Maybe have a family!"

"Wait a minute! I thought SOLDIERS couldn't have kids!" a trooper protested.

"Yeah! I heard that too! It's because of the Mako treatments, right Sora?" he looked at the SOLDIER SECOND.

Sora looked like he'd swallowed something sour. "That's what I heard. But hey! Makes life easier for me!" he said. "Don't need to worry about getting tied down or anything. Besides, the women prefer it that way!"

Except for Tifa, Cloud thought morosely.

"Maybe you can't, but I want a family!"

"Yeah! I saw this cute flower girl once that I wouldn't mind marrying. She sold me a flower, though it was kinda expensive…"

Cloud's heart plummeted. He set his mug down carefully on the table, trying to hide his reaction but Sora caught it and swallowed hard, feeling really guilty all of a sudden. He hadn't meant to get this conversation started and now it looked like he was really hurting his friend.

"That's enough, guys!" he started to say, but an argument had started up among the troopers and they didn't hear him.

"I remember her! She sold flowers out in front of the theater, right? In Sector 1?"

"No! I saw her in front of the Honey Bee Inn!"

"You did! When was that? 'Cause I was sure I saw a girl selling flowers in front of the train station."

"Get out of here! She couldn't be in all those places at once!"

"Not all at once! I said I saw her and I did!"

"I heard she lived in the slums and sold her flowers to make some money for her ailing mother."

"Yeah, I heard that too! But I don't remember seeing her around lately. Wonder what happened to her?"

"Oh, she probably got married to some big time SOLDIER like Sora here, or Cloud! Right Cloud?"

Cloud's Mako blue eyes looked stricken and he winced visibly. "She's dead," he said, so softly they almost didn't hear him. He looked at his hands, the hands of a killer, then quickly rose and headed outside. He was no longer hungry. He just wanted to get some air.

"No way!"

"When did that happen?" The troopers shocked voices followed him out the door, stabbing him like a thousand knives.

"Hey, guys! Knock it off!" Sora roared, stopping them mid-complaint. "Cloud! Hey, Cloud!" Sora ran after the SOLDIER FIRST, a hollow feeling in his gut. He caught up to him in the middle of the town square and waved his arms expressively, as if doing so would prove his sincerity. "I'm really sorry, man! I totally thought you were into Tifa. I didn't think…!"

Cloud stopped, not looking at him. "It's not like that," he said quietly. His fists balled up as emotions he thought he'd left behind suddenly flooded over him. It hurt like an open wound that had never properly healed; or a sin, he thought, that could never be forgiven. "I was there when she died."

"Huh?"

"Sephiroth killed her while I watched and I couldn't…" he bowed his head, "…do anything." With that, he walked away toward the Inn.

Sora stared after him, speechless. "Oh, man!" he finally muttered. Talk about going through hell. His old man had it right and now he'd put his foot in the middle of it. For the first time he cursed his own obtuseness. When Sora wandered back into the bar a few minutes later the troopers barraged him with questions.

"What's with him?"

"Did we say something wrong?"

"Maybe he thinks he's too good for us, being a SOLDIER FIRST!"

"Hey! You didn't fight with him, so don't say that!" one of the troopers Cloud had instructed defended him staunchly. "Right Sora?"

Sora sat down thoughtfully.

"Did something happen, sir?" the captain asked, aware that the usually garrulous SOLDIER Second Class was being uncharacteristically quiet.

Sora sighed. "And I thought he was lucky," he muttered. "What the hell did I know?" Every man at the table went silent when they saw the look on his face. He shook his head. How should he say it? It was just too cruel to think about. "Aww!" he suddenly batted at the air with one gloved hand like he wanted to hit something but couldn't think of what. "I'm out of here!" He stood up again, leaving his unfinished drink on the table.

"Finish your drinks, get a meal, then report for duty. And leave Cloud alone! He's been through enough without you guys pestering him. Oh! And if I hear that any of you guys has started rumors about him, I'll take it as a personal insult and deal with it myself, got it?" he glared at them while fingering his sword hilt. They nodded, suddenly nervous as they realized they were looking at a SOLDIER Second Class. They turned back to their drinks, muttering quietly among themselves. Sora ignored them, giving them time to blow off a little steam before he carried out his threat for real. The captain glanced questioningly at him, but Sora didn't feel like explaining it to him at the moment and the man wisely let it go.

"Hell," Sora growled. "Life just got complicated." He left enough gil on the table to cover his tab and that of his men plus Cloud, then left the bar and went to check on the walls surrounding Kalm. Starting tomorrow, he'd be the acting guard and chief monster dispatcher for the little village, but right now he just felt like hitting his head on the wall until he knocked some sense into it.

The castle was made entirely of crystal. Cloud moved silently down a long flight of crystalline steps toward it. Aeris was below. He could feel her presence like a warm breath in his mind. He crossed through a small entryway into a chamber filled with crystals and clear water. The others followed a few steps behind, exclaiming softly at the beauty of the place. The silence echoed around them, shivering like chimes whispering in a cathedral. Then he saw her. She was kneeling in a circle of rock in the center of the pool. Praying, he thought. He stepped forward, waving the others back, and hopped across a series of wooden pillars to where she was. He looked around briefly. Something about the place felt familiar, though he was sure he'd never been here before. Turning, he moved toward Aeris to ask her what she was doing when something strange happened. His body began to move on its own. His right arm reached behind him, drawing the sword from its sheath, and he started toward her, raising the blade over her head. His mind screamed at him to stop, but his body refused to listen. He was going to kill her and he couldn't stop himself!

"Cloud!"

"Cloud, what are you doing?"

Voices. People he knew and trusted. He shook his head, desperately fighting the will that was not his own.

DO IT, a voice commanded inside his head.

NO.

He twitched, trying to force his arms down.

YOU WILL DO AS I SAY!

NO! He shook his head violently, trying to rid himself of the irresistible voice. He took one agonizing step back but the sword resisted his efforts to lower it. LEAVE ME ALONE!

YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A PUPPET. The voice wormed its way insidiously into his soul, freezing his limbs. MY PUPPET!

NO! Cloud screamed his defiance. Gritting his teeth, he pushed the sword down and took another step away from Aeris. She looked up, as if just now becoming aware of him, and smiled. There was a flash of irritation.

VERY WELL, I WILL DO IT MYSELF!

A long, gleaming silver blade suddenly descended above Aeris' head, held in the hands of a nightmare. Cloud saw it coming and could do nothing to stop it. Though he had managed to lower his own sword and back away, he could not escape the terrible purpose that drove him to obey and he stood, powerless even to cry out, as the sword impaled her from behind. She looked surprised as the life slowly faded from her eyes, then slumped forward onto the blade. The pink ribbon fell from her hair and her mother's useless Materia fell with it, striking the stone floor. It chimed as it bounced down from pillar to pillar, finally vanishing into the pool below with a tiny splash. Cloud's soul went with it. Sephiroth withdrew his blade, stepped forward and raised his hands, laughing triumphantly as Cloud ran to catch her. He held her in his arms. She was still warm and soft as if she only slept and he shook her, half hoping she would wake up and it would all be a bad dream. But he knew the feel of death. He'd experienced it before with Zack and could not fool himself into believing the impossible. He turned to scream at Sephiroth, to rage against the cruelty…

But Sephiroth abruptly stopped laughing. He walked back and leaned over Cloud, looking at him as if seeing him for the first time. Bending down on one knee, he took Cloud's face in a gloved hand and forced him to stare intocat green eyes.

CLOUD.

His mortal enemy looked at him, searching his eyes as if surprised at what he saw. Cloud struggled to free himself, but the glowing green eyes pinned him in place, robbing him of strength. He couldn't move. The crystal City of the Ancients, Aeris' body, everything suddenly vanished and only the eyes remained, burning into his brain.

YOU ARE… PERFECT.

The voice echoed in his head and something deep within him responded to it.

NO…

YOU… ARE… ME…

Cloud's eyes began to burn as glowing green merged with Mako blue. An outside force filled his body as if taking possession of it and he started to scream and scream and he couldn't stop.

No! NO! Cloud jerked awake with the scream tearing at his throat. He was sitting up in bed, sword held out in front of him as if to fend off an enemy and he looked around wildly, not sure where he was at first. Then his eyes made out the walls of his room and he took a deep shuddering breath. His hair was matted with sweat and he swiped it out of his eyes with a shaking hand. Slowly lowering his sword, he stared at it without really seeing it, the dream still burning behind his eyelids. He set the sword down carefully next to the bed and rubbed his eyes, trying to scrub it away. But traces of it lingered, making him feel disassociated from his surroundings. Finally he tossed the tangled covers aside and rolled out of bed. There was no reason to stay longer in Kalm Town anyway. Quickly, he packed up his few belongings, grabbed the sword and slipped downstairs. He'd already paid the clerk the night before, so there was no need to wait. Cloud hurried past the empty counter and into the cool pre-dawn air. The sharp biting cold of night shocked him awake and he inhaled deeply. The Fenrir crouched where he'd left it parked beside the Inn and he tossed his belongings into the courier compartment and drove to the gate. One of the troopers he'd fought with rubbed his eyes, surprised to see someone else up so early in the morning. He recognized Cloud and tossed him a salute as he swung open one of the two heavy wooden gates. Cloud nodded at him and drove into the night. His SOLDIER enhanced eyesight made the nightscape seem nearly as clear as daytime and he had no trouble following the dirt road away from Kalm toward the pass that led to the Chocobo Ranch. It wasn't until much later that Cloud remembered he hadn't bought any toys for the children.

---------------------------------

_Sorry for the mess up on the next two chapters. When I downloaded, the document didn't copy right. I hope I've fixed all the errors. If you find any I missed, please let me know. I hate sloppy work! Anyway, thanks for staying with me this far and I hope you continue to read this story as I head toward the emergence of our favorite bad guy, Sephiroth. Yeah, he's in here. - Just have a little more patience with me ok?_


	7. Chapter 7

89

**Disclaimer**: Final Fantasy VII and all associated characters and symbols are the exclusive property of Square Enix and its associates.

Seven…

"Which one do you want to ride?" Chocobo Billy asked Cloud when he told him he needed a chocobo to ride across the marshes. Chole was rustling around in the back of the barn, pulling greens out of a pile and tossing them into the stalls, and Cloud relaxed in the familiar atmosphere surrounded by the smell of the great riding birds, greens, wood, and water. They were comforting after his experience in Kalm Town. The dreams were coming too frequently and seemed much too real to be mere nightmares. He couldn't shake off a feeling of uneasiness about them, like they were a warning somehow.

"I'll take Kisari," he answered, chasing away the morbid thoughts. Of all the chocobos he'd raised and raced, he had ridden her the most and felt they got along pretty well.

Billy nodded and went to the tack room to collect the special bridle and saddlebags. He took them into Kisari's stall and began to strap them on. While he did that, Cloud walked over to greet each of the other chocobos by name and give them a vigorous scratching around the neck and chest. There were five gold chocobos in all, plus three blacks, a blue, and a green chocobo that he had left to the ranch when he successfully bred the golds. They chortled and warbled with pleasure when he approached them, reaching over the stall doors to get his attention, and he felt a bit guilty for not visiting them sooner. He had just finished renewing old friendships when Billy brought Kisari from her stall. At Cloud's request, he had filled one of the saddlebags with straw so that Cloud could safely transport the crystal for his enigmatic customer.

They'd already stowed the motorcycle in the back of the barn under a tarp to keep the dust off. The trip shouldn't last more than a day, depending on how long it took him to find the crystal described in the letter, so he didn't need any other supplies save some food for himself and greens for Kisari. He also left the swords inside the bike save for Zack's Buster Sword, which he slipped into the sheath on his back. Even though Cloud had collected better, more powerful swords during their long search for Sephiroth, he still favored his old friend's sword. It had been his first and carried a great deal of sentimental value.

Cloud hopped onto Kisari's back. It felt a bit strange after such a long time and he took a moment to find a comfortable position. He stroked the chocobo's feathers, feeling the soft down beneath the gold colored quills even through his gloves. It wasn't hard to balance on the broad back of the bird, as he and his friends had learned the first time they captured wild chocobos to travel across the marshes, but there was a little more to riding them than just hanging on to their neck feathers or bridles and letting them run.

"Let's go, girl."

Cloud twitched the reins lightly and whistled. Kisari didn't need any further urging. She shot forward as if she was in a race at the Gold Saucer and Cloud leaned over her back, saddlebags bumping against his knees as he let her run. Kisari fairly flew toward the Zolom marshes and a brief glance over his shoulder showed the Chocobo Ranch already vanishing rapidly into the distance. Cloud mentally cut the time he expected to take on this errand by half.

As they sped through meadows of tall grass and yellow flowers, broken only by the occasional dirt track, Cloud kept an eye out for monsters. Kisari could outrun almost every monster around, but because of the large numbers he'd been seeing, he decided to play it safe just in case. The gold chocobo's broad back rocked gently beneath him as he turned her toward the marshlands and the musty smell of the bird brought back memories of the time when he and the others traveled the same path for the first time. Even though they had never ridden chocobos before, Tifa and Aeris had taken to riding with surprising ease. Barret on the other hand was anything but thrilled and, though the chocobo was easily large enough to carry him, had complained volubly about falling off, cursing the feathers in his face and generally making a ruckus. Red XIII finally had enough and growled at him to shut up from where he rode behind Cloud, teeth firmly locked onto his belt to keep from sliding off.

Cloud's lips quirked up. Sometimes he missed the old days, fighting beside his friends as they crossed continents and islands in search of Sephiroth. He'd had a purpose then, even though it turned out to be a false one, and now… well now he felt a bit lost. Cleaning monsters out of Midgar for Reeve was a temporary fix for the loneliness that clouded his feelings and thoughts most of the time. It acted as a salve for his guilty conscience too, making him feel he was doing something useful. He found that he needed to feel useful for some reason. Before, when he was a child, his entire being had been so wrapped up in the idea of becoming famous like the great General Sephiroth that he had never actually considered what he would do if he accomplished his goal. It had all been so simple then. Go to Midgar and be a SOLDIER just like his idol and everything else would fall into place like magic. But it hadn't happened that way. Nothing went the way it was supposed to right from the very start.

When he reached Midgar after a long nauseating boat ride, he joined up with the Shinra military and figured it would take no time at all before he became a SOLDIER. Wrong! He didn't even make it past the first hurdle. They scrubbed him. He never found out why, though he thought he knew now. He was too unstable. Hojo's attempts to make him into a Sephiroth clone had proven that. The treatments were much the same as the ones SOLDIERS went through, but they'd been used on normal humans like him and the surviving villagers, not pre-screened SOLDIER candidates, and in much greater doses. And look what it had done to them. The villagers became mindless zombies, shuffling about until their master focused his attention on them and used their bodies like puppets. Then when Sephiroth was finished with them, they burned into piles of ash or obediently jumped off the cliffs in the Northern Crater and died. The treatments nearly killed Cloud as well and he didn't doubt that, but for Zack's constant banter during those five interminable years of captivity, he would have succumbed like the other clones or worse, remained in a comatose state for the rest of his life; much like the one he was in when he was found drifting near the southern island of Mideel after giving the Black Materia to Sephiroth. Zack had regaled him with stories of how he became a SOLDIER and how he first heard of the fabled boy General, Sephiroth, who ended the Wutai War by defeating its leader, Godo, in single combat.

"You got a girlfriend?" Zack sat on his backside, leaning against the glass tank that was his prison. He peered expectantly at Cloud.

"…"

Cloud stared dully at him and Zack waited. His brown eyes, which were tinged with the familiar Mako green, sparkled encouragingly. It took a long time for Cloud to form the word.

"Tifa…" he said despondently. It didn't matter anymore. Nothing mattered except the pain and the voices. He wished it would all just go away.

"Tifa, huh? Cute name. Say, that sounds familiar!" Zack rubbed his chin, thinking. "Not that girl guide?" He looked up suddenly, brows raised in surprise. "That would explain a few things."

Zack changed position, cursing the hard floor. "Might as well be concrete made of ice! I'm getting cramps! So, is that why you put your trooper helmet on? You shy or something?"

The vivid memory hit Cloud so suddenly that his fingers dug convulsively into Kisari's feathers. She gave a startled, "Wark!" and her stride shifted slightly before she continued running. He remembered now! Zack's face peering at him from the tank next to his. Zack's voice calling him back from the sea of nightmares which tried to smother him. The ache in his chest was immediate and powerful.

"Motion sick?" The famous SOLDIER First Class leaned over Cloud as the truck rumbled disconcertingly beneath him. Actually he felt like he was going to throw up any minute but he tried to put a good face on it and shook his head.

"I'm okay," he mumbled. He did NOT want to embarrass himself in front of this man. And on top of that General Sephiroth, the idol of every young trooper in the Shinra military, was sitting right next to him in the back of the truck! If he tossed his cookies here, he'd never live it down!

Zack chuckled. "Don't think about it. That's the best remedy. Believe me, I know. Oh! And it helps to move around." He did a couple of squats, moved to glance out the back window, then went to check on the other trooper. The rain was pinging off the roof of the truck, echoing in an ear battering cacophony of mind numbing sound. Zack came back. "Best thing to do when you're motion sick is move around, take deep breaths, don't go to sleep and whatever you do, DON'T READ!"

Cloud grabbed his head, dropping the reins onto Kisari's neck. Time was displaced for a moment and once again he felt the jolting motion of the long truck ride to the mountains of Nibelheim. Nausea roiled in the pit of his stomach and the drumming of the rain assaulted his ears. He was suffocating. He closed his eyes tight, squeezing out the images and took a deep breath like Zack had told him to do so long ago. It helped. He wondered if Zack got motion sick too. He seemed to be quite knowledgeable about the subject.

Kisari's stride abruptly changed and he opened his eyes, grabbing the reins, and looked around. They had reached the marshes. He sat up and shook his head to free it of the last clinging traces of memory. There was no time for that now. He was a delivery man with a commission to perform. The sand shifted beneath Kisari's feet but she was too quick to get caught in it. Hopping from tuft to tuft, she sailed across the marshes, avoiding the ripples that warned of Zoloms moving beneath the surface. Cloud hung on, guiding her with a light touch of the reins or a tap of his heel toward a path that led to the foot of the mountains where the entrance to the Mythril Mines was. He hurried past the skinned Zolom still suspended from a dead tree courtesy of Sephiroth. He didn't want to think about Sephiroth right now.

When they reached the cave entrance, Cloud slipped off of Kisari's back, leaving the reins looped over her neck, and walked cautiously inside. The gold chocobo followed him, head bobbing slightly as she ducked protrusions that hung from the low ceiling. Cloud kept a wary eye out for monsters as they moved through the winding system of caves. The miners from Kalm had worked in these mines a few years ago for the metals it provided, but when the Zoloms mysteriously appeared, cutting off easy access, all mining had come to a halt. Kisari tapped his shoulder with her beak when they reached a particularly narrow passageway, as if to say she wasn't thrilled by the idea of trying to squeeze through there. He reached back and patted her neck reassuringly.

"Don't worry, girl," he said. "It gets better from here on out."

"Wark! Warkk!" was her response.

Cloud chuckled. Kisari might be just an oversized bird, maybe even a monster if you ran into her kind in the wild, but the gold chocobo really seemed to understand what he said. She was extremely intelligent, as he had learned when he was racing her at the Gold Saucer, and she had helped out in more than one battle.

"I know. But we'll be finished pretty soon and after I get the crystal, we can have lunch. How does that sound?"

She cocked her head like she thought he was trying to pull her leg and he batted playfully at her. Flapping her stubby wings at him, Kisari clicked her beak a few centimeters from his arm as if to say she wasn't about to let him get away with that, though he knew it was merely a playful gesture. They had done this many times before and both of them enjoyed the mock fight. Sometimes Cloud could swear she was actually speaking to him in her own way.

They stepped from the narrow passage into a cavern with beautiful fluted shapes dangling from the ceiling like the pipes of an ornate organ. He looked around, trying to get his bearings. The place looked familiar but… Pulling out the map, he checked to make sure he was heading in the right direction then pursed his lips, frowning as he realized he had passed the cave he wanted. He sighed and turned to go back, bumping into Kisari. She planted her feet, thinking he was playing with her again and he reached out to stroke her neck, soothing the ruffled feathers.

"Wrong room," he explained. She warbled in a questioning tone and he shook his head. "Sorry," he mumbled, "my mistake."

They went back through the tight passage -to her obvious disgust -turned right and followed a long slippery path to another set of chambers. At one point he actually had to grab the chocobo's neck to keep from slipping and she squawked at him in annoyance before scrabbling with her own claws as the floor dipped unnoticed beneath her. Cloud was squashed against the wall, sharp edged rocks gouging into his back as he tried to keep them both from going down. He hung on a moment, gritting his teeth, until Kisari righted herself. She ducked her head, chagrined at being caught off guard like that and he laughed, rubbing his back. Luckily the sheath had taken most of the impact and he only felt a little bruised. It wasn't until they emerged from the passage that he heard the sound of wings flapping above his head and looked up. Bats! Cloud's response was instantaneous. He jumped forward to clear himself from the confines of the passageway and drew the Buster Sword from the sheath at his back. Kisari had also heard them and took up a position two meters behind him. She stretched out her neck and squawked angrily at the flying nuisances, but she had been with Cloud long enough to know how much room he needed to swing his sword and she made sure to keep her distance.

Cloud didn't like fighting bats. They were small and quick, making them hard to hit. Barret cursed up a storm every time they ran into the little pests because they sapped a person's strength with every bite, but hitting them proved to be nearly impossible! It was difficult enough to strike at the beasts with a sword let alone bullets, although for some strange reason Vincent's shots seemed to take them down more effectively than anyone else's attacks. He thought the quiet man might've put something special into his bullets, like explosive charges or something, but he couldn't be sure. Vincent never said. Of course, Cloud had never actually asked him either.

There were only four bats; not an unusual number this time. Cloud watched them cautiously as they flapped about, sword raised and balanced in his right hand while he kept his left out in case he needed to change position quickly. When two swooped toward him, he stepped aside automatically, grabbed the hilt with the other hand and used the momentum to sweep the blade around in a cross-slash. He jumped back as soon as the blade finished its arc and glanced up quickly to see where the others were. Kisari squawked a warning and he turned immediately, whipping the sword up without thinking. Two more bats flew toward him from the passageway he and Kisari had just left. Cloud growled. This was ridiculous! He concentrated on the single Materia in his sword, watched as it began to glow faintly then glanced up as the bats suddenly fluttered around his head. One dove at him while he was distracted and bit him in the neck, making him jump. Enraged, Kisari flashed past him and snapped at the little beast. She caught it in midair and shook it with all her might, finally tossing it hard into the nearest wall. Cloud staggered as two more bats bit him in the neck and shoulder, draining him of energy and magic. He straightened, gritting his teeth, and focused all his attention on the Materia. It brightened instantly and he felt the magic surge through him. He slipped the sword into its sheath, gathered the energy into his hands, and threw it at the bats. The Bolt 3 spell hit them all a once, not doing as much damage as it would have if there'd been fewer to hit since it had a tendency to distribute itself evenly in an attack. But it had the required affect, dropping two out of the air instantly, while crippling the other three and slowing them down. Cloud grabbed his sword and swung it as they tried to gather themselves for another attack. Beside him Kisari snatched another one with her beak and snapped down hard until he heard the crunching sound that announced it wouldn't be moving again. Cloud's sword finished the last two and he looked around, checking to make sure the bats were all dead before he shook his sword clean and re-sheathed it. Kisari rushed up to peck gently at his head and shoulders like a mother hen making sure her chicks were alright and he batted her gently away.

"I'm okay, Kisari," he said after a quick check. The bites would heal and a little rest would take care of the effects. He shrugged, kicked one of the bats out of the way and pulled out the map again.

The mines weren't too difficult once he knew which passage to take and he easily found the room described in the letter. The crystal wasn't so easy to locate however. It took him almost an hour before he came across it in a tiny crack in the floor at the back of the chamber. Leaving Kisari to guard the entrance, he knelt beside the crack and studied the crystal, figuring out the best way of removing it without breaking any of the delicate flame-like protrusions. Finally he took out a leather bag, turned it inside-out, stuck his hand into it and reached down into the crack. He felt the base of the crystal flame, squeezing gently to test its brittleness. It felt pretty solid so he exerted a little more force and broke it off at the stem, then gently drew it out of the crack and wrapped the bag around it. Tying off the bag, he carried it over to Kisari. He used the straw inside the saddlebag to act as a cushioning agent, spreading it carefully around the crystal, then tied the saddlebag shut and shifted it a bit further up the chocobo's neck. Cloud secured the straps, making sure they were comfortable and not pinching Kisari in any way before he headed back toward the entrance to the Mines. When they reached a familiar chamber of natural stepping stones, he stopped for a brief rest and some lunch. Kisari warbled her satisfaction as he reached into the other saddlebag and pulled out a bundle of greens for her. She greedily gobbled them up, finishing the entire bundle before he'd even taken a bite of his own sandwich. Then she started nosing him, looking for more. He sighed and reached into the bag for another bundle.

"Greedy guts," he accused her as he set the second bundle of greens on the stone floor. "Now let me eat, okay?"

He looked around the cave as he took a bite and chewed, listening as she munched her greens. His ears told him the cave was empty at the moment, though he could hear the breeze as it whistled through the rock formations and there was the dripping of water from somewhere deeper inside the Mines. He knew of several places where water was present and didn't even try to guess which one it was. His ability to hear might be enhanced, but it was still difficult to focus on an echo. Both bird and man finished their respective meals without interruption from the local monster population and Cloud headed down the steps again, followed closely by Kisari.

The trip back to the Chocobo Ranch took almost no time at all and when he finally turned the gold chocobo into her stall after stripping off her bridle and saddlebags, she gave him a look that clearly told him she was not pleased. He smiled and slapped her gently on the neck.

"I promise I'll come back and take you for a longer ride next time," he told her as he followed her into the stall. She lowered her head so he could rub it, stretching her stubby wings with pleasure as he obediently did so. Finally he left the stall, closed the door, and latched it. Bending down, he opened the saddlebags to remove the crystal and Kisari stretched her head over the stall door to pull playfully at his hair. The other chocobos all hung their heads out as well and chortled at him. He grinned as he carried the leather bag to his motorcycle. He would definitely have to return and take them out for a ride. He didn't think any of his friends would be up to a casual ride just to stretch chocobo legs, especially not Barret, but it was the least he could do. He'd raised them to run and they'd been cooped up for a very long time. A short while later he drove out of the barn on the Fenrir and headed for the place on the map called Healin Lodge.

The place was located in the mountains west of Midgar and Cloud looked up at the series of waterfalls and cliffs in amazement. It was beautiful and he wondered why he'd never heard of it before. He kicked the bike into gear and started slowly up the winding dirt road, gazing around at the peaceful scenery. He noticed what looked like a small round building nestled amid the cliffs above him as he came around a turn in the road. Then he saw the sign mentioned in the letter. Cloud stopped the motorcycle as he drew even with it. Removing the bag with the crystal from the courier compartment, he carried it across to the side of the road. The bag of gil was below the sign as the letter had said it would be and he hefted it, gauging by the weight that the amount was approximately thirty thousand gil. Cloud wondered what the crystal would be used for and why it was worth so much. Then he shrugged. It was, after all, none of his business. He took the money, leaving the crystal in its place, and glanced up at the building. He stared at it a long moment, curious who had hired him. He thought he saw movement inside one of the darkened windows and tried to make out the hazy figure within. Then he remembered the warning in the letter. He didn't know if staring would count as a perceived attack, but there was no reason to wait and find out, so he turned away, mounted the bike and drove away.

Inside the building, a man shrouded in a white blanket sat propped up in a high-backed wheelchair. He looked out the window, watching as Cloud stared almost straight at him. When Cloud finally drove away down the mountain, he sighed and shifted slightly.

"Tseng," he said in a hoarse voice. A shadowy figure moved up beside him.

"Sir."

Tseng, the leader of the Turks, leaned down so he could hear the President better. Rufus' injuries had been so massive after the attack by Diamond Weapon that the Turks had spent days using every potion and elixir they could find just to keep him alive. He could barely move on his own, but his power over the Turks was absolute and their loyalty remained unquestioned.

"Bring it. Then I have another errand for you," the President rasped.

"Yes sir."

The trip to Midgar took less time than from it. The road that led from Healin Lodge to the city of Midgar was actually well maintained and it made Cloud wonder. Why would President Shinra bother to keep such a place connected to Midgar? Who lived there? He bit his lip, irritated by this sudden interest in something that probably would never cross his path again. Tapping the accelerator, he pushed the motorcycle to full speed and let the wind tear away his feelings of doubt. It was good to feel the wind in his face and not have to think, or act, or hurt.

Cloud didn't remember the toys until he entered Midgar. Thank goodness it was early in the evening so the shops were still open. He turned right, after passing through the gates, and circled the short apron to where a single highway led up to the Sector Plates. There was a network of highways and roads connecting the Sector Plates to each other, but only one which descended to the area below where one could reach either the gates or the slums. This highway opened into Sector 3 and Cloud didn't have to go very far before he spotted a toy store. Pulling over, he parked the bike outside a gaily lit establishment and walked cautiously inside. The moment he entered, his eyes were assaulted by bright colors; stuffed bears, rabbits and things he couldn't even begin to describe or name. He walked along the aisles, totally at a loss as to what a six or seven year old child might want. He'd never had any toys to speak of when he was a child and what he remembered didn't even come close to what he was seeing here! Half an hour later he was still trying to decide. This was taking longer than fighting a battle!

"May I help you?"

Cloud jumped, startled. He hadn't heard anyone come up beside him. He turned to see the salesman standing at his elbow and his lips twitched. If he ever found himself trying to buy toys again, he'd better make sure there were no monsters nearby or he'd be dead before he noticed!

"Um… yes," he stumbled over the words, heart still pounding. He turned to look at the shelves. "I want to buy some toys but I haven't got the slightest idea what kids want."

"New father?" the salesman enquired with a smile.

Cloud lowered his head and shook it slowly, hiding the stricken look that flashed across his face. Keep it under control, he told himself. The salesman didn't know the circumstances. He was only guessing from what he saw; one man alone, trying to pick out a toy. To anyone else he might well have looked like a new father. When he managed to school his features appropriately, Cloud looked up.

"Sort of," he admitted softly. He gestured at the shelves. "Actually, I was hoping to find something for a few children I know. Two girls and a boy?"

"How old?" the salesman asked.

Cloud was caught off guard. "About… six to eight years old, I think." The salesman cast him a questioning glance to which he merely shrugged.

"Well," the man turned and led the way to the back of the store. He pointed to a row of shelves. "For the girls I would suggest stuffed toys… The moogle is a favorite right now." He indicated a stuffed white thing with a ball poking up out of its head on a long springy stalk. Cloud looked askance at it. He couldn't even tell what a 'moogle' was! The salesman saw his disbelief and grinned reassuringly.

"Don't worry. I don't know what it's supposed to be either. But I can assure you that the girls love it."

"What about the boy?" Cloud stared at the 'moogle', trying to decide whether he really wanted to buy the thing, and the salesman moved to another shelf and took down a wooden train. Cloud instantly recognized it as a small copy of a Shinra engine. He smiled as the salesman handed him the wooden toy. The details were astonishing.

"So!" the salesman sounded triumphant. "The train, a moogle and…"

Cloud scanned the shelves. The moogle would be more appropriate for Natali but Krysta seemed more delicate for some reason. Then he spotted a doll in a purple kimono and knew what he was getting for the little girl. When he reached for it, the salesman chuckled knowingly. With his arms stuffed with toys, Cloud followed him back to the front of the shop and paid for them. The salesman wrapped each one individually then placed them carefully in a large shopping bag. He waved as Cloud left the store.

"Come back anytime!" he called out.

Cloud nodded, thinking 'Not in my lifetime' as he gently shut the shop door behind him.

It took even more time to carefully arrange the oversized shopping bag inside the courier compartment. When he was finished, the sun had already dipped below the horizon and Cloud decided to return to Tifa's first. He would get an early start tomorrow morning and drop off the toys at Elmyra's. He might even be lucky enough to find Denzel on the way. Of course, that would entail another trip to the toy store. Cloud shuddered. He sealed the compartment lid and straddled the bike. The engine gave a throaty growl ashe started it up and he tapped the accelerator, tucking his legs into the footrests as the motorcycle leaped forward. One thing at a time, he told himself.


	8. Chapter 8

102

**Disclaimer**: Final Fantasy VII and all associated characters and symbols are the exclusive property of Square Enix and its associates.

Eight…

"Hi, Cloud," Tifa greeted him when he peered through the door. He glanced around to see if Marlene was there before entering, afraid that if she saw the presents he was carrying, she might think they were for her. He cursed himself for a fool for not thinking about buying her something too, but it was way too late now.

Tifa finished cleaning the dishes, put the last glass onto a shelf behind her, and tossed the cleaning cloth under the counter. She pulled off the apron she wore to prevent spills from messing up her clothes and tossed it under the bar as well. Flipping up the countertop, she walked toward him, brown eyes glancing questioningly at the brightly colored bag in his hands.

"Who are those for?" she asked curiously.

"Um," Cloud suddenly realized that Marlene might not be the only one he should have bought a present for. "Well, I thought the kids… you know, the orphans I left with Elmyra? I thought they might like something to play with, so I bought a few toys…"

Tifa's face brightened. "I see. So what did you get?" She looked expectantly at the rather garish bag.

Cloud shrugged and pulled out the three boxes, then grabbed suddenly as they started to slip out of his arms. The bag fluttered to the floor and Tifa stifled a giggle as he tried to juggle all three ungainly packages at once. In frustration, Cloud finally snatched the things out of the air, ignoring the possibility that such rough handling might squash them, and pressed them firmly against his chest. He looked accusingly at Tifa when he saw her trying not to laugh at him.

"I'm sorry," she muffled her laughter with one hand, eyes sparkling. "Why don't we get those into your room? You don't want Marlene to see them, right?"

"Yeah." He gave her a lopsided grin. "Thanks."

Tifa grabbed the gaily colored bag and crumpled it up, carefully hiding it in the bottom of the trash can. Then she took a long box from the top of Cloud's stack and followed him upstairs to his room. It felt heavy and she wondered what it was. Surreptitiously she hefted it, gauging the sound against the weight. Not a doll, she decided: maybe a wooden toy or puzzle. Together they stowed the packages inside a travel bag that didn't look like it had come from a circus and would serve to hide them from curious eyes.

"Oh, that reminds me!" Tifa suddenly clapped a hand to her forehead. "You've got a letter."Cloud's eyebrows wrinkled in confusion as he tried to think who would send him a letter and Tifa added, "It's not for you. It's for you to deliver."

"Oh." Cloud looked relieved, then stricken as he realized he'd been snubbed. She covered her mouth to prevent another giggle. She couldn't help it. He was so easy to tease, but he also took things way too seriously and she didn't want to hurt his feelings. He clamped his jaw shut, trying not to let it bother him. "Where does it need to be delivered?"

"North Corel."

"…?"

"It's Barret's birthday present."

"…!" Tifa was having entirely too much fun confusing him.

"Marlene colored a picture for him and I suggested she send it to Barret as a birthday present," she explained. "You don't mind, do you?"

Cloud shrugged. "I don't mind…" he let the sentence hang in the air as he realized unhappily that he didn't know when any of his friends' birthdays were except Tifa's, and that was only because he had watched her celebrating it with her three childhood cronies in Nibelheim while he stood outside and wished he could join them.

"You should see it," Tifa continued, blithely unaware that she had touched upon a painful subject. She reached out and helped Cloud unbuckle the oversized sword sheath on his back, pulling it off and hanging it over a nearby chair. "It has Barret blowing away Meteor with rockets from his gun arm." Tifa trailed him back down the stairs as he went out to the Fenrir to remove the rest of his supplies. She studied the sleek lines of the bike appreciatively.

"What about the swords?" she asked, as he started to walk back into the bar. She looked at the place where they were stored, but couldn't see any sign they were there. Once again she marveled at the ingenuity that had gone into the making of it.

"I'll leave them, I think," Cloud answered. "It's easier than carrying them everywhere."

She nodded. "That's true."

They went back into the bar and she started closing up for the night: locking the doors, pulling down the shades, and turning off the lights. Cloud cleared his throat and she stopped, glancing at him questioningly.

"Sorry to ask this so late, but do you have anything to eat? I haven't had much…"

Tifa flipped on the light over the bar and walked behind it. She leaned down, pulled something from under the counter and set it on the bar. It was a wrapped plate. She added chopsticks and a napkin, then pulled a small glass of dark ale from the tap and set it down next to the plate. Cloud settled onto the bar seat and smiled when he saw she'd made his favorite; curry rice.

"Thanks," he mumbled, dipping his head. He felt kind of guilty for making her save meals for him like this. She did it pretty often, setting aside food for him on the off chance he might need something to eat after a long day's work. Then, if he didn't eat it, she ended up throwing it away and making another meal for him later. He didn't know how many meals she had disposed of on his account, but it was probably too many. Cloud picked up his chopsticks and began to eat. Tifa grabbed a soft rag and began to dust the bar top and shelves.

"You don't need to wait up for me," he protested softly.

"That's all right." She started wiping down the already highly polished tables, surreptitiously watching him as he ate. Feeling terribly conspicuous now, Cloud ducked his head and ate a bit faster. Tifa let her hair fall over her face to hide her expression. When Cloud was finished, he got up quickly, took the dishes to the kitchen unit behind the bar and rinsed them thoroughly as his mother had taught him to, then hurriedly went up the steps to his room. Tifa followed him as far as the door to her own room.

"Goodnight," she called softly to him as she went inside. She closed the door carefully, glancing over to the bed to make sure that Marlene was asleep, then stood still and listened to Cloud moving around in the next room. Tifa could imagine him pulling off his shirt and pants and tossing them onto the back of the same chair on which she'd placed the heavy sword sheath. She pressed her ear against the wall and smiled when she heard the drawer to the bureau open. He was putting on the black silk pajamas she'd bought for him. He actually seemed to like them, to her secret delight. She had only purchased them on a whim and hadn't thought he would really like them. It pleased her that he did.

The bed creaked as he settled lightly onto it, then he rolled over and went quiet. Tifa sighed. She slipped into her own shorts and nightshirt and climbed thoughtfully into bed next to Marlene, being careful not to disturb the girl. As she pulled the covers over her head and drifted off to sleep, she wondered if Cloud would ever get over his shyness enough to ask her on a date.

"Cloud!"

"Yay! Cloud's here!"

Takashi raced towards him from the garden, shouting to Krysta and another boy Cloud didn't recognize. Natali came bouncing out of the house the moment she heard the motorcycle and all four rushed up to stand in a row in front of the house as the Fenrir rolled to a stop. Cloud kicked the stand down and slowly climbed off the bike, concern written all over his face as he realized he didn't have enough toys. He wondered where Elmyra had found another orphan.

Elmyra emerged from the house at a more sedate pace, smiling as she saw the children lined up in front of the young SOLDIER. Cloud looked over the children's heads at her, at a loss as to what to do now. Then Natali stepped up to him and tugged gently on his shirt. He looked down into her brown eyes and smiled.

"Hi, Natali," he said. He glanced over at the new kid. "And who do we have here?"

Natali turned with him. The boy turned red and started to back away from the group when Takashi yanked him back.

"This is Ben!" he introduced the boy. "Ben, this is Cloud, the guy we told you about." He grinned up at Cloud. "We told him all about you and this place, and Elmyra said he could stay. Isn't that great!"

Cloud nodded, glancing at Elmyra for confirmation. She smiled.

"That's right. I said he could stay here as long as he wants. Just like the others." She walked to where he still stood next to his bike, surrounded by the children.

"How are you doing, Cloud?"

"Well," Cloud looked at the sea of smiling faces. Four of them! And he hadn't even found Denzel yet. That meant only room for two more. Cloud shook his head and turned to open the courier compartment, trying to push away his own doubts while thinking furiously about what he could give the new kid as a present so he wouldn't feel left out. He'd only bought three toys, and now there were four children. What should he do? He took his time sorting through the letters and his own supplies while he thought about it and when he finally removed the packages he hoped he had found the right solution.

The children's eyes grew round as they saw the gaily wrapped packages emerge from the travel bag and there were squeals of delight from the girls. Ben looked like he thought he should be somewhere else and started to back away again. This time it was Cloud who stopped him.

"I didn't know we'd have an extra guest, so I only bought three presents; two for the girls and one for Takashi," he indicated Takashi with his head, "but I think I have something you might like, even though it's not wrapped." He looked directly at Ben, who stared open mouthed at him. The boy nodded uncertainly and stepped back up with the other three who were now trying to guess who got what without actually grabbing the prizes out of Cloud's hands. Cloud nodded curtly to Ben, then bent down to hand each of the original three their presents. They had the wrappings off before he had a chance to turn back to the new boy. Slowly, Cloud pulled the Buster Sword from its sheath. All of the children stopped what they were doing to stare wide-eyed at him. Cloud held the sword in such a way that they could look at it, but there was no danger of any of them actually hurting themselves with it.

"This is called Materia." He pointed to the small crystal in the hilt. "You've heard of it before, haven't you?" Ben nodded. Cloud had everyone's full attention now. Elmyra was smiling in the background, pretty sure what he had in mind. Cloud slowly plucked the crystal from its slot and held it out for them all to see. "I use it to call up lightning attacks to kill monsters," he explained. He held it out to Ben, who stepped forward at Takashi's prompting and gingerly took it. He turned it over in his hand wonderingly, listening as Cloud continued.

"It's a combination of the Ancient's wisdom and the Planet's magic and it takes some time to learn how to use it." Ben looked up at him. Cloud smiled encouragingly. "I can teach you, if you want." Ben's head started bouncing up and down like a yo-yo and there were gasps from the others.

"Then when I get back from my trip, I'll show you, okay?"

"Wow!"

"It's pretty!" The kid's ran off, staring at Ben's present. It wasn't a toy, but Cloud guessed it would do from the reaction he'd gotten. He shook his head. Kids were strange.

"Well, you've won over another one, Cloud," Elmyra said.

Cloud frowned at her, totally confused and she laughed. Once again he had no clue what was happening. He probably just thought he owed the boy a present and had grabbed the first thing that came to mind, but Materia was rare to most folks and that was a present that would become an important keepsake for the recipient, she was sure.

"Can you stay for tea?" she asked him. He shook his head, glancing first at the house then toward the garden where they could hear the children arguing loudly over whose present was best.

"I've got a few more flyers to put up and then I've got a delivery that will probably take a few weeks, so…" he shrugged. "Thanks anyway." Cloud walked toward the Fenrir then stopped suddenly, keeping his back to her. "Elmyra?" His voice was so soft she almost didn't hear it and she moved closer to him. "I'm sorry. I should have protected her." His shoulders slumped and he stared at the ground in front of him. "I don't ever want to lose someone like that again," he whispered then climbed on the bike and drove away.

Elmyra shook her head sadly. "I know," she sighed. "Just make sure that you aren't the one to leave us."

Cloud searched the streets closely as he finished putting up the rest of the flyers he and Tifa had made, hoping to spot Denzel in some alley or crowded walkway, with no success. He was on his way back to the Seventh Heaven to prepare for the trip to Corel when the local Post Master approached him.

"Mr. Strife?" he called out and Cloud stopped, turning to see who it was. "From Strife Delivery Service?" The Post Master was waving one of the flyers in his hand and looked a bit out of breath.

Cloud nodded. "That's right. Can I help you?"

"I saw you putting up these flyers and thought maybe you could deliver some letters for me."

Cloud raised his eyebrows in surprise. He'd thought there was still a postal truck to carry letters to Kalm, but apparently not. "Sure," he said. "How many and to where?"

The Post Master looked relieved. "I've got a batch for Junon and another for Costa Del Sol."

Well, that explained a lot, Cloud thought. There was no road leading over the mountains to Junon as yet, though there were plans. He'd seen them in Reeve's office. "Sure," he agreed. After all, he was already heading to North Corel, so it wouldn't be out of his way. And Kisari would enjoy the trip.

"Great! If you'll follow me, I'll give them to you right now. By the way," the man glanced around, as if looking for something. "How are you going to get over the mountain pass?"

"The roads don't run through the pass, so I figured I'd ride a chocobo," Cloud answered.

"Ah!" he nodded. Apparently he knew something about chocobos because he didn't ask any more questions and Cloud followed him to the mail office on Serene Street. The office had been closed while its proprietor was away and the man unlocked the door and gestured Cloud inside before he flipped the placard around to show that it was now open again. Crossing the room, he went behind a caged counter and consulted a series of shelves that extended the entire length of the back wall. There were slots fitted inside it with labels to different streets, sectors, and, in a separate row, towns. He withdrew two bundles from slots that Cloud could read from the other side of the counter as being to Junon Harbor and Costa Del Sol. He also noticed a packet for Reeve nearly seven centimeters thick and smiled. Probably more reports, which meant more paperwork for the already overburdened bureaucrat. A female customer came in, clanging the bell that hung over the door, and the Post Master quickly handed the bundles to Cloud before moving away to help her. Cloud looked at the letters tied carefully with string, each bundle labeled with the name of its destination. He tapped his forehead in silent salute to the Post Master who nodded to him, then headed back to Tifa's. When he stepped inside, Tifa greeted him with some more unusual news.

"Guess what!" she said before he could say anything.

"What?" he asked, curiosity piqued by the excitement on her face.

"Yuffie called!"

"Yuffie?"

Why would Yuffie be calling Tifa?

"Yes, Yuffie. She said she had a favor to ask of you, but she wouldn't tell me over the phone. She said she'd only talk to you privately. You're to go to Wutai as soon as you can. Is that okay?" she asked, suddenly noticing the look on his face. "There isn't a problem, is there?"

Cloud started to chuckle. Talk about timing!

"No, there's no problem. In fact, I was going to tell you that I got a job from the Post Master to carry some letters to Junon Harbor and Costa Del Sol. Add that to the trip to North Corel and Wutai will be no problem at all."

"Wow!" Tifa laughed, her brown eyes flashing. He liked her this way.

"Well, I guess I'll go get a change of clothes and some supplies and be out of here," he said. "Oh, by the way, where is Marlene's special delivery?"

Tifa led the way upstairs and he followed her into her bedroom, looking around surreptitiously. Tifa saw him in the mirror as she crossed to her bureau and hid her face behind a length of hair when she saw his reaction to the crayoned pictures Marlene had drawn of her and Cloud. She'd taped them to the wall near the door. They were actually pretty good for a six year old, though they looked kind of rough when viewed with a more mature eye. Tifa pulled open a small drawer in the center where she kept the few things she'd collected during their travels, including the photo of her with Zack and Sephiroth. The photographer had given her a copy just before Nibelheim was burned to the ground by Sephiroth, but what caught her eye and made it so precious to her now was the back of a certain someone standing at the edge of the photograph, watching her. It was Cloud. At the time she hadn't even guessed it could be him, nor did she believe him when he told that tall tale about his trip to Nibelheim with the legendary General Sephiroth. How blind she had been back then! And how cruel; to have doubted him, not once, but many times over. It wasn't until she entered his shattered consciousness in the Lifestream and helped him find himself that she learned the truth about Nibelheim and realized he had been with her all along.

She found the picture Marlene had drawn for Barret, wrapped in shiny green paper which Marlene had chosen herself when they went to the corner store. It was crumpled by eager but inexperienced hands and Tifa pulled it out and turned to give it to Cloud, gasping when she nearly bumped into him. He was standing right behind her, glancing over her shoulder at the photo, and she hadn't even heard him move! Cloud stepped back quickly, his features slipping into a pleasant mask as he mumbled an apology. He looked at the gaily wrapped present for Barret but his eyes didn't see it. Tifa's heart plummeted.

"Cloud, I…" she couldn't think of anything to say, as usual, and was left standing there feeling like a fool as he gave an exaggerated shrug, forcing a smile.

"It's all right," he assured her, taking the package from her numb fingers. He turned and left before she could think of an appropriate response. Tifa slammed the drawer shut and, balling up her fists, followed after him. Damn him! And damn her own insecurity! Why did it always end up this way?

"Cloud!" she called after him, but he had already disappeared into his room. Tifa stalked up to the door. She could hear him rustling around inside, probably shoving a change of clothes into his travel bag. Men just didn't get the subtler art of folding clothes!

"Cloud!" she called through the closed door. "It's not what you think! I kept the photo because it reminded me that you were there too!"

"Don't worry about it, Tifa. Please." He sounded really upset, but she wasn't sure why. There was a thump and something rattled loudly across the floor. She leaned against the door, cursing the wood between them.

"Cloud? Are you all right?"

"I'm fi…" his voice was cut off abruptly and she heard something crash. It sounded like a chair breaking.

"Cloud? Cloud!"

Tifa heard a moan and went into action. Setting herself, she balanced on one foot and lashed out with the other, slamming it into the door and splintering it inward. There was no sound from within and she kicked again, knocking the shards loose. Then she rushed inside, looking frantically for Cloud. He lay curled up on the floor beside the broken remains of the chair, head clutched in both hands.

"No! Not again!" he ground out between clenched teeth. Tifa bent over him, touching his shoulder, but he waved her away violently, trying to crawl away from her. "Don't Tifa! Get out of here, now!" his voice carried an urgency that sent a chill through her.

"Cloud," she said softly. "What's wrong!"

He looked up at her suddenly and she stopped, her hand only centimeters from his shoulder. It couldn't be! Cat green eyes pinned her to the spot, staring from an elegantly cruel face framed by long silver hair. Sephiroth! But no! It was Cloud!

"Cloud?" she sounded frantic, not wanting to believe what she was seeing.

He smiled. "Hello Miss Lockhart," Sephiroth said, eyes glittering with menace. He rose gracefully and she stumbled backwards, eyes darting rapidly right and left. "It's good to see you again."

Cloud jerked awake. He took a deep shuddering breath then jumped when something tapped his shoulder.

"Waark?"

A bright yellow beak suddenly blocked his vision and he jerked backwards. Kisari peered down at him with what could only be described as a worried expression on her avian face. Cloud looked around, bewildered. Then he spotted the saddlebags. His blanket lay three meters away, crumpled where he had thrown it off during the dream. The sword lay on the ground next to him. Cloud rubbed his eyes furiously. If this kept up much longer he was going to go certifiably crazy! He pushed Kisari away and started to stand up, but his legs simply folded beneath him and he grabbed her instead and hung on, leaning against her warm side as he waited for the world to stop spinning. Every muscle in his body felt bruised and his face ached abominably. He reached up and pulled at his hair, half afraid it would be long. He didn't even want to look at his face in the sword for fear of what or who he might see! Cloud buried his head in Kisari's feathers, eyes shut tight as he tried to force the all too vivid images out of his battered mind. When he finally released the chocobo and pushed away from her, Kisari chirruped softly. He patted her, scratching through the thick pile of quills to the downy soft skin beneath.

"Kweeh," she crooned with satisfaction.

"It was just a bad dream," he told her, trying to convince himself at the same time. He was beginning to sound like a broken record. Cloud gathered up his belongings and quickly packed them into the saddlebags. Then he sheathed the sword and climbed onto the chocobo's back. He took a slow look around to confirm where he was. It was coming back to him now. He'd left Midgar three days ago. Last night, he and Kisari had passed through the Mythril Mines and it was evening by the time they came out on the far side of the mountain range, so he had decided to camp near the exit, next to a stream that trickled down from the side of the mountain. Cloud double-checked to make sure the saddlebags were secure, picked up the reins and clicked his tongue softly. It was time to put some distance behind them if they were going to reach Junon Harbor by the end of the week. Kisari sensed the emotional instability of her rider, but when he signaled her for speed she took off like a shot from a gun, neck extended as she had learned from the numerous races she'd participated in at the Gold Saucer.

Cloud hung on with his knees, balancing against the bobbing movement of the huge bird. He didn't really need the reins. Kisari and he had ridden together so long that she responded to the tap of a foot or hand on her side. The reins were more for show than anything else, especially when he took her into town. There were enough wild chocobos around that most people instantly assumed she was one of them unless he had reins held firmly in his hand for all to see. Cloud closed his eyes briefly, letting the wind wash away the last cobwebs of the nightmare. Feathers tickled his face, but they smelled of straw and warmth and home. Funny, since his home had never seen a chocobo.

As soon as he reached Junon, he would deliver the letters - preferably without having to stop for the night - then take passage across the ocean to Costa Del Sol. He was starting to think that he didn't want to sleep anymore if it meant more dreams. They were beginning to worry him. No! He was way past worrying and into outright fear! It felt like he was losing his grip on reality and that photo he'd seen in Tifa's drawer hadn't helped any either. He'd left without explaining his reaction to her. He couldn't, because then he would have had to explain about the dreams. But the mere sight of Sephiroth staring at him from the photo had made him feel somehow like he was looking into a mirror and it unnerved him. He would have to apologize to Tifa when he got back though. That was going to be hell; trying to explain without actually explaining. He hated keeping things from her, but he hated even worse the idea that she might worry about him losing his mind.

The bandersnatches, when they ran into them,were already fanned out in attack formation as Kisari swung round a bend in the dirt path. There were seven of them, an unusual number, although it seemed like that was becoming the norm lately. They looked gaunt and he noticed that there were odd nodule shaped growths on their backs and necks, almost like bloated green ticks. But what concerned Cloud most was their reaction to Kisari. Any normal monster would've given the chocobo a wide berth, starving or not. But these wolf-like cousins to the Midgar Fangs lunged without hesitation at her, snapping their teeth in her face. One of them leaped on top of her, scrabbling with him, and he yanked out the sword and swung at it. The startled chocobo jerked the reins from his hands as she tried to peck at them, then she leapt sideways, shifting her center of gravity, and lashed at them with her clawed feet. Cloud tried to jump off but the sudden change in both stride and direction threw off his timing and he landed hard, slamming his head and shoulder against a boulder.

His vision starred as consciousness tried to slip away, but he fought it. Gritting his teeth, Cloud stood up and instinctively whipped the sword around, just in time to fend off another bandersnatch that thought it had found easier prey. The beast's ferocity made it hard to hit. It leapt about in a crazed manner, taking damage that should have killed it twice over. By the time Cloud finally managed to slice it in half, he was covered in scratches and bites. He looked frantically about for Kisari and saw the chocobo fighting the rest of the pack with beak and claws. But it was six to one, and time and the odds were against her.

Cursing, Cloud raised his sword and lunged toward them. He hacked his way through them toward Kisari, unheeding of the damage he took as they turned on him. He'd never seen them in such a demented state before, so intent on killing him and Kisari that they literally threw themselves on his sword. He hacked and slashed desperately, arms growing numb from swinging the heavy sword. His head still hurt from the fall, but he had no time to be bothered by it as he slowly whittled away at their numbers until there was only one left. He disposed of it with a cross-slash, then staggered over to Kisari and quickly checked her for injuries. A thorough search revealed no more than a few patches of missing feathers and he breathed a sigh of relief, leaning against her side for the second time that day. His head was spinning and Kisari warbled reassuringly to him as he gasped for air. She swung her head around and gently tugged at his hair with her beak. Cloud patted her, smoothing the ruffled feathers back into place. He glanced around at the carnage.

The strange growths caught his eye and he walked over the nearest one, tapping the thing with the tip of his sword. It moved and he jumped back. The thing, whatever it was, wriggled sickeningly along the bandersnatch's body toward him. Cloud lashed out at it, fear and loathing on his face as he hacked it into a quivering mass of green slime. When it stopped moving completely, Cloud walked cautiously through the other dead bodies and destroyed every single one of the horrid things. He wondered what they were and whether they had anything to do with the odd behavior of the bandersnatches. Not wanting to stay anywhere near the things even if they were dead, Cloud wiped the slime off of his sword onto a grassy hummock nearby, sheathed it, and was headed back toward Kisari when a wave of dizziness made him stagger. He frowned. That was strange. Cloud caught up Kisari's reins and tried to hop onto her broad back. It took more effort than it should have and he was breathing hard by the time he settled into a riding position. The reins shook in his unsteady grip and he stared at them, confused. The battle had been intense, but no worse than many others he'd been in before. Another wave of dizziness hit him and the world canted sideways. He grabbed Kisari's neck feathers to keep from falling off, cursing the sweat in his eyes that made it difficult to see. It was hot, even though the sun wasn't that bright, and he wiped the sweat off of his forehead and willed his hands to stop shaking. Kisari chirped in a questioning tone and he patted her reassuringly. It was nothing. Just a bit of excitement, he told himself, though he didn't really believe it. He wiped his eyes again as a misty veil slowly began to settle across his vision. It made things hard to see, as if the day had grown dark all of a sudden and his night vision had failed him. He shook his head. He didn't have time for this! He had a delivery to make and anyway, there were doctors at Junon if it came to that. He clucked his tongue, tapping the reins against the chocobo's neck, and Kisari set off at a more sedate pace, conscious of her master's uncertain balance.

Fort Condor appeared in the distance, perched atop a series of hills that rose to a peak where once a giant condor had nested. There was no condor there now. Someone had told Cloud why once, but he couldn't remember who. He frowned. When had he turned Kisari toward Fort Condor? He was supposed to be headed to Junon which was further north. The world had grown hazy as he rode and strange lights kept flashing across the landscape, confusing him. He could no longer control the feverish shivers that wracked his body. He knew he'd been poisoned somehow. The bite marks and scratches from the bandersnatches had turned into angry purple welts a few hours after the attack and they continued to bleed despite his SOLDIER body's attempts to heal itself. He had used the remedies he carried in his saddlebags, but they were proving ineffective. Cloud wondered if he had been infected by the things on the bandersnatches, but his mind couldn't grasp the concept as he struggled just to remain conscious.

A spasm gripped him, locking his muscles, and he nearly blacked out. Grabbing the chocobo's neck, he gritted his teeth. He would NOT leave Kisari out here to fend for herself! He tried to whistle the chocobo to greater speed, but another spasm shook him and he barely managed a hiss of escaping air. His vision started to fragment and he tried to lace his fingers through Kisari's feathers so he wouldn't fall off. He needed to get her to the safety of the Fort before he passed out, or worse, ended up like those bandersnatches. But his fingers wouldn't work right. He fumbled a moment, then the world slipped and he felt himself falling. Consciousness slipped through his fingers like Kisari's feathers and darkness claimed him.

Kisari felt her master suddenly go limp and start to slide off her back. Startled, she quickly lifted her wing to prevent it then slowed to a stop and looked back at him.

"War... kkk?" she warbled in concern. There was no reply. He made no move to guide her or even hold on. Kisari tapped him gently with her beak. He moaned softly, whispering words that made no sense, and she made up her mind. Something was wrong with her master. He needed help and the closest humans lay ahead where the lights were. Kisari lifted her wings and laid them as tightly over him as she could, holding him securely onto her back, then took off at her fastest speed toward the distant lights of Fort Condor.

It was full dark by the time she finally reached the narrow path which led up through a short pass to the Fort. She slowed a bit, shifting Cloud's dead weight against the new angle of her body as she climbed. He made no move or sound, which worried her and she picked up her feet and hurried along the path. When she finally reached the entrance to the Fort, Kisari lifted her head and called out loudly, squawking repeatedly until she heard sounds coming from inside. Voices grumbled and bodies moved toward the heavy wooden door set in the side of the hill. It opened after the sound of fumbling locks and a tall man staggered outside, half asleep, muttering about 'stupid beasts ruining his sleep' and how he was 'going to have 'em for breakfast'. He stopped when he saw Cloud lying unconscious across the great bird's back. Jerking awake, he turned back toward the cave and yelled for help. Several men rushed out, careening into each other as they stumbled to a sudden halt at sight of a chocobo and rider. Almost as one, they looked at the first human, who apparently got the honor of being leader because he was the first outside. He shrugged. Cautiously he approached the chocobo, holding out his hand while coaxing her to stay calm. She tossed her head impatiently and, startled, he stepped back.

"Wark warr…kk!" Kisari chuffed in exasperation. She lowered her head and tucked her beak against her chest so that the stupid human would see that she wasn't going to attack him. She was worried about her master. His body felt unusually hot, even through her protective layer of feathers, and his shivering was now non-stop. As the man approached her again, Kisari made a decision. She lowered her wing and let Cloud slide off. The man made a quick grab and caught him just before he hit the ground. He took one look at Cloud and started barking orders to the others. Keeping a wary eye on the chocobo, several men gently lifted her master and carried him inside the cave while others ran ahead of them, shouting. She tried to follow and the leader of the group gingerly took the reins that hung from her neck and led her inside, telling her what a good bird she was.

Of course she knew that already! Kisari pushed impatiently at his back, trying to hurry him up. She saw the others lifting Cloud through a hole in the ceiling with ropes and a stretcher and started to follow him, but the human tugged at her reins and spoke reassuring words to her and reluctantly she waited. He yelled more orders and two men clambered back down the rope carrying blankets. They built an impromptu nest on the earthen floor beneath the hole, trying their best under the circumstances to create what they thought was an appropriate bed for the chocobo. Kisari chuffed, not happy about the arrangement, but resigned to it for now. She stepped delicately into the middle of the pile of blankets and settled down, her head cocked curiously as she watched the human close and bar the Fort door. He came back and after an awkward moment of trying to figure out the bridle, managed to remove it as well as the saddlebags. He set them on a nearby box, then fumbled through them to see what they held. When he found greens, Kisari extended her head toward the bundle and crooned coaxingly. He stared first at her, then at the strange vegetables, and shrugged. Leaving a bundle near the blankets for her, he checked to make sure she was comfortable and went up the ladder to see to their unexpected guest.

-------------------------

I want to thank those who've put me on their favorites list. First and foremost, my best reader and reviewer, Blindfolded Angel (thanks Spazzy for keeping me going! - ); and to the Shadow Swordsman who left an encouraging review (they really help my ego, which is good because that helps me to keep writing.); and three anonymous readers calling themselves Redwood, It's Good to be a Myth, and Brightmoon13.

I see a lot of hits, but it isn't until someone sends a review my way that I truly know they are enjoying my story. I hope you keep reading and reviewing and I'll definitely keep writing, cause I love it!


	9. Chapter 9

114

**Disclaimer**: Final Fantasy VII and all associated characters and symbols are the exclusive property of Square Enix and its associates.

Nine…

The world was a dirty purple hue and he hung within its cold confines, afraid but not sure why. It was not the same feeling he had when he was in the Lifestream. There it had been warm and welcoming, while this place exuded only menace and death. Cloud looked around slowly, trying to figure out where he was. A light glowed in the darkness and as soon as he saw it he felt himself pulled in that direction, though every cell in his body suddenly screamed for him to stay away. He tried to struggle, but whatever it was that held him captive had also frozen his limbs and he was unable to move or resist. He couldn't even turn his head away or close his eyes. As the light grew brighter he saw something moving in the distance; a jumble of dark shapes centered round a shining image which was the source off the strange light. His stomach clenched, reacting before he even understood what he was looking at. When his mind finally accepted the image, making the oddly shaped puzzle pieces take physical form, he recoiled in horror and disbelief. It was Hojo! Or at least, what appeared to be Hojo. There was only a head, but there could be no mistaking the greasy black hair, high forehead, and bulbous eyes. The light seemed to emanate from the scientist somehow, illuminating him and what he was doing.

Monsters and humans clustered around the scientist, every one of them covered in the same strange growths Cloud had seen on the Bandersnatches. One by one they shambled mindlessly up to the floating head, froze in place and – as the head glowed more brightly for an instant – slowly dissolved into smoke which Hojo sucked into his mouth. Each time he inhaled the essence of one of the infected beings, his body grew. First a neck took shape, then the body, then the extremities, until at last Hojo resembled the final form he had taken after injecting himself with Jenova cells at the Sister Ray Cannon in Midgar.

But that was impossible! How could he have survived when Cloud was certain he cut the crazy scientist into pieces? Cloud shook his head, trying to deny what his eyes were telling him. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening! It was a dream; just a dream. Abruptly Hojo turned and looked directly at Cloud. He seemed surprised to see him. Then the bulbous eyes widened with the same sick pleasure he always showed when he was about to play with a new specimen. Cloud knew that look; it had been used on him many times after he and Zack were taken captive in Nibelheim; and fear shot through him. He tried to run away, his heart pounding so hard he thought it would burst from his chest, but his legs refused to respond and he remained hovering helplessly before the horrid apparition, frozen to the spot just like the monsters Hojo had turned into smoke.

"Hello! And what's this?" Hojo drifted toward Cloud, tentacle arms wriggling with excitement as they reached out to inspect his new prize. His rubbery mouth split into a broad grin, showing jagged teeth, and he started to giggle.

Cloud struggled against the blankets which hampered him, crying out in his delirium.

Lar clucked his tongue and rearranged the damp cloth on the patient's forehead. It was two days now since he arrived on that great yellow bird of his. At first nobody thought he would make it, but apparently the SOLDIER uniform the kid wore wasn't just a costume. He had an incredible resistance to the poison which raged through his veins from the infected monsters that were beginning to appear around Fort Condor lately. The bites and scratches were angry purple and seeped a green tinged fluid, just like Charlie had before he died from that attack last week. Lar had given the young man every potion and remedy he could get a hold of, but the fever continued to rage high enough to burn up any normal person.

"Ho… Hojo…" the young man mumbled. He thrashed his head from side to side, fingers twitching.

The old man leaned over him. "Whadja say?" he asked.

Cloud abruptly jerked upright, Mako blue eyes wide with fear as he stared at something only he could see.

"No…" He lashed out, knocking the startled oldster into the dirt wall. "NO!" Cloud tried to stand, but his legs got caught in the blanket and he fell, struggling frantically as if death itself was after him. His eyes were feverishly bright and unfocused.

"Tom! Harry! Get in here quick!" Lar hollered as he picked himself out of the wreckage of the chair. The sick man's eyes were wild. He was ripping at the blanket, but he didn't appear to be aware of his surroundings and Lar wondered what kind of nightmare would cause such a violent reaction. And what was a 'Hojo'?

Two burly men appeared at the door and started into the room. They took in the sight of the old man on the floor amid the wreckage of his chair and headed for the aggravated young man who was now proceeding to trash the bed.

"Wait a minute!" Lar suddenly waved them back, scowling fiercely at the sick man. Grabbing him didn't seem like such a great idea on second thought. Maybe it was time to try a new tack.

"Now just take it easy, young feller," he tried to speak as soothingly as possible while still keeping a safe distance away. "You're in Fort Condor. You were brought here by a big bird." He felt a bit silly rambling on like this, but the patient stopped struggling and actually seemed to be listening to him, though his eyes remained unfocused.

"The boys brought you up to my room and you've been sleeping in my bed for the last two days. You got attacked by some of them rabid monsters we've been seeing round here lately. They killed Shem and we lost Charlie just last week when he got bit like you. Them monsters are bad poison, what with them weird growths all over them, so we've been keepin to the Fort mostly."

He took a breath and his two companions watched uneasily, ready to lend a hand if it was needed. One of them glanced at the mess the invalid had caused and wondered if they'd be able to hold the guy down despite how sick and shaky he looked.

"That big bird of yours is sure kicking up a ruckus, so I'm hoping you can tell it to settle down. We been feeding it them green bundles you was carrying in your pack and we built a nest out of spare blankets and such but…" he let it trail off. The young man's oddly glowing eyes were losing their wild look and seemed to burn a bit less brightly.

"Can you tell us your name, son?"

Lar's head ached where it had made contact with the wall. He just counted his lucky stars that the walls were made of packed earth and not concrete. His throat felt like somebody had used sandpaper on it from talking so much, but his approach seemed to be working. The sick man's eyes narrowed as he tried to focus on the old man.

"Folks round here call me Lar, or old man," he shrugged, grinning amiably.

"Cloud," the blonde SOLDIER'S voice was so soft he almost didn't catch it. "I'm… Cloud."

He staggered then suddenly went limp. Harry caught him just before his head hit the floor and with Tom's help they carefully laid him back on the remains of the bed. But as soon as the young SOLDIER'S head touched the pillow his eyes flew open again. He grimaced and Tom started to back away when a firm grip on his arm prevented him. He winced at the power in the SOLDIER'S grip, even though the man was still weak from the poison and fever. Cloud didn't seem to notice.

"Please… Kisari," Cloud began. He swallowed hard, his voice hoarse and his mouth obviously dry. Lar hobbled over to the bed and sat in a chair Harry grabbed from the next room. He filled a cup of water, sneaking in a healthy dose of tranquilizer before holding it out to the patient.

"Thirsty?" he asked.

Cloud nodded then gritted his teeth as the mother of all headaches stabbed him between the eyes. The water was cool with an earthy taste and he gratefully downed the entire cup. He closed his eyes and took a quick internal check. His body still burned with fever and he was very weak. But he could think and he remembered words spoken during his nightmare. Calm words, coaxing him back to sanity. He opened his eyes.

"The growths…" he coughed and Lar handed him another cup of drugged water. "What are they?"

"Don't rightly know," the old man admitted, shaking his head. "Just that they been driving the local monster population crazy lately. It's bad enough having to worry bout getting attacked every time you step out of the Fort, but now we've got to watch out for them parasite thingies. One bite killed Charlie."

"Parasite?" Cloud turned his head to look at the old man, ignoring the pain as best he could. He needed to understand what was happening here and if the dream about Hojo had anything to do with it. Was it possible the scientist had managed to survive somehow? He didn't want to think so, but when Jenova was involved things were never that easy. And then there was the recurring dream of Sephiroth. Cloud felt like the world was closing in on him.

"Well… that's the best description we can come up with," Lar answered. "When they first started showing up, one of the workers here got infected or something. He had a great big growth on his neck and started mumbling bout getting to HIM or whatever. He ran off screaming and ranting and we ain't seen him since. Figure he died. We looked for the body. Never found anything. They killed Shem outright. Then one of them infected monsters attacked Charlie and he didn't grow nothin. He just died of a fever."

Lar leaned forward, looking deep into Cloud's glowing blue eyes.

"You're a SOLDIER, aint'cha?" he asked quietly.

Cloud closed his eyes. Weariness swept over him in waves and he felt himself slipping away. He fought it. "Sort of," he mumbled, a note of regret in his voice that made Lar curious.

"Thought so," Lar nodded. Behind him, Tom and Harry frowned. They'd heard of SOLDIERS and had even seen a few of them in action. They silently counted their lucky stars that Lar had talked the young man down from his rampage or they all might've been in serious trouble.

"Ain't seen any since that big battle with Shinra a few months ago," Lar continued, ignoring them. "After that Meteor thing showed up in the sky. You with Shinra?"

"No!" Cloud grabbed his head as pain lanced through it. He groaned. "No, I… never was," he said. A rough hand gently patted his shoulder as consciousness finally slipped away from him.

"Don't worry, son," Lar assured him. "We seen what'cha done to that pack of Bandersnatches. Besides, the war's over. Just get better soon, cause I think that bird's gonna come up here if you don't go down and reassure it soon."

He felt the young man's body slowly relax beneath his hand and listened as his breathing settled into a broken, feverish rhythm. All that tranquilizer Lar had snuck into his water had finally taken effect. He took the cup from Cloud's limp fingers and set it on the table, glancing at the empty tranquilizer bottle a bit worriedly. His eye caught on the giant sword the lad had had slung on his back when he was first brought inside. It had taken two men to carry the thing up here.

"Damn!" he exclaimed suddenly, startling the two men with him. "And I thought them Shinra SOLDIERS were all hype." He rubbed his shoulder gingerly. It felt like it had nearly been dislocated. He recalled the speed and power with which the sick man struck out. Tom had told him about the pack of Bandersnatches, or what was left of them; chopped to pieces every one of them. And the kid had left even less behind of those strange growths. Yet he came away with no more than scratches and a few bite marks. And the bird had no visible wounds at all.

"I'd hate to make an enemy out of that feller," he commented out loud.

"What do you want to do with him?" Tom asked.

Lar rubbed his eyes, wincing at the bruised shoulder.

"He should sleep for several hours, considering all the tranquilizer I poured into him. I'm gonna get some sleep too." He yawned. "Tom, you watch him." He got up and headed for the door.

"Oh!" He paused. "And don't touch him! If you startle him, he might get mad and beat the stuffin' out of you. Just call me when he wakes up. I got some more questions for him." He walked out, leaving the two men to stare at each other in consternation.

Harry suddenly grinned and clapped Tom on the shoulder.

"Well, good luck!" he laughed, and walked out.

Tom studied Cloud uncertainly. He glanced at the broken chair against the wall and the damaged bed and grimaced. Grabbing the chair Lar had used, he dragged it as far away from the bed as he could and settled into it with a thump. Tilting the chair against the wall, he listened to the sick man's breathing and wondered what Lar wanted to talk to him about. Minutes turned into an hour, then two, and his eyes grew heavy. Before he knew it, he nodded off.

Something was wrong. Cloud opened his eyes and stared into… pitch black. Was he blind? Or was it just too dark for even his SOLDIER enhanced vision to see? He reached out with his right hand, trying to find something that would tell him where he was. Only cold air touched his questing fingers and a hollow echo that seemed vaguely familiar greeted his straining ears. There were voices in the distance; many voices calling to each other. It sounded like a crowd and a chill went through him. Some of the voices were familiar to him, though he couldn't seem to separate them from the others. He turned his head, trying to help his ears pick up what they were saying, but they got all jumbled up inside his head and he couldn't make sense of them. Then, abruptly, one voice rose from the murmuring crowd. A voice he knew like the feel of the Buster Sword in his hands. Cloud turned and moved forward, feeling his way through the darkness towards the only anchor he could find.

"… and then I pulled my sword and cross-slashed, killing the monster in one blow." Zack's voice grew louder and clearer as Cloud concentrated on it. The darkness slowly began to melt to a misty grey.

"Zack!" he called out, searching blindly for his friend. "Zack?"

"… Course Seph only had to blink and most monsters would run."

Cloud stumbled at mention of Sephiroth. It was hard to accept that the man had ever been sane, let alone a friend of Zack's. There was a clinking sound and Cloud stopped, a shiver running up his spine. He knew that sound! It was a sound he had heard quite often while being held captive by Hojo; the sound of a glass specimen tank, the ones he used to store his projects in when he wasn't playing with them. A voice whimpered in answer to Zack's words, so feeble he almost missed it. His voice!

"Sorry man," Zack sounded instantly contrite. "Never mind that."

Cloud stood very still. He suddenly knew where he was. Somehow he had slipped inside the Lifestream and was sifting through the pieces of his fractured memories; memories he didn't want to dredge up; memories that hurt. He shook his head. He didn't want to be here! He tried to turn away, only to find that there was nowhere to go. All directions were the same in the Lifestream and only a strong will or outside interference would get him out. He knew this, but it didn't keep him from trying to escape.

"…then I followed him into the reactor. There were these Mako pods everywhere. They were supposed be making Materia, but we found out Hojo was making monsters in them instead. Seph found a special room with the name Jenova written over it. He said his mother was named Jenova…"

Someone giggled.

Revulsion crawled up Cloud's spine like a giant spider. He didn't have to see the man to know who it was. Hojo! Suddenly Cloud felt straps around his chest, arms and legs. They were holding him down against a cold, hard surface which pressed against his back. He couldn't move, couldn't speak. His body felt bruised and a terrible lassitude was settling over him. He knew he was bleeding, but didn't care. Death would be preferable to another session with the sadistic scientist. He couldn't even hear his own breathing. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore. Just silence. He craved silence and an end to it all, but the Voices wouldn't let him escape. They circled him, encouraging him to hold on, to keep trying, but he didn't know why.

"Hojo, you bastard!" Zack's voice. It was stronger, closer than the multitude in his head. "What the hell are you doing to him!" It snarled in his ears. Zack could be fearsome if he wanted to and right now he sounded like he wanted to strangle the scientist.

"Why, I'm trying to bring back Sephiroth, Mr. SOLDIER First Class." The hated voice cackled. "I've exposed this boy's body to Mako, a far higher concentration than any mere SOLDIER." He sounded triumphant and scornful at the same time. "I've also been injecting him with live Jenova cells. I'm curious to see how he responds."

Cloud felt his body twitch. Coldness was seeping into his flesh, freezing it to the table. Soon he would fade. He could already feel his mind slipping away.

"Hey, buddy!" Zack called out to him, a note of urgency in his voice. Cloud didn't know why. He was just a Trooper Third Class. Not worthy of anyone's notice, let alone that of a famous First Class SOLDIER. "Cloud!"

His bones felt as if they had frozen solid, but his muscles burned as though acid was flowing through them. There was motion; something propelled him forward and liquid began to creep over his face, into his lips and down his throat. He jerked, trying to scream as he realized what was happening, and warm liquid filled his lungs. It was heavy, stifling, and his eyes opened wide. They hurt and there was nothing to see but green; faintly glowing green fluid, thick and viscous. It filled the tank and his hands brushed against the cold glass of the specimen tank as the it pressed against his body, forcing the breath out of him. He beat frantically against it, still trying to scream, but the containment fluid drowned his cries and he hung suspended in the heavy liquid and stopped breathing.

Cloud clawed at the air, gasping for breath. His fingers met warmth. Feathers! A familiar musty odor reached his nose. His eyes flew open and he looked frantically into a pile of gold fluff. Kisari was in front of him, practically lying on top of him on an unfamiliar bed, and he realized that his hands were clutching her neck in what had to be an uncomfortable grip.

"Kwek!" she squawked, startled.

Cloud released her. His head ached abominably and he couldn't seem to focus his eyes. The last thing he remembered was fighting the pack of misshapen Bandersnatches. No… he frowned, remembering the face of an old man talking to him. What had he said? The chocobo settled down beside his bed, now that she was sure her master was all right, and began to preen herself delicately. Fort Condor! Cloud finally connected the dirt walls with a place. He was at Fort Condor. But he didn't remember getting here. There was a man sleeping in a chair tilted against the wall by the door. He didn't recognize him, but something told him he'd seen the man before. He shrugged. It didn't matter. If Kisari wasn't troubled by his presence, it was probably all right.

"So you're awake. And how'd that giant excuse for a chicken get up here!"

"Wark!" Kisari protested. An elderly man entered the room and gave the chocobo a wary look.

Lar scowled at Tom, who chose that moment to jerk awake. The chair came down so hard he nearly fell off. He looked sheepishly at the oldster, got to his feet, and scratched his head.

"Sorry," he said. "Guess I kinda dozed off there for a minute."

"A minute!" Lar yelled at him. "More like a couple of hours!"

He yanked the chair away from Tom, pulled it up to the other side of the bed from the chocobo, and leaned forward to study his patient's face. There was no sign of fever and the welts he could see had faded to a pale pink. He clucked his tongue, shaking his head in amazement.

"That's some kind of immune system you got there, son. Can you stand?"

Cloud nodded, acknowledging the older man's authority. He pushed the blankets aside, slid his legs over the edge of the bed and stood in one smooth motion. There seemed to be no lingering effects from the poison, though his vision shifted in and out.

Lar's mouth dropped open. Did he just see the young man's eyes turn green there for a second? Cloud noticed and raised his eyebrows. Lar waved it off. His old eyes weren't what they used to be.

"You look okay. How do you feel?"

"Better," Cloud admitted. "Do I know you?" he asked sheepishly.

"Well… yes and no." Lar related the events that led up to their current situation then added, "You were mostly delirious so I don't expect you'd remember much."

Cloud scratched the back of his head and shrugged. "Sorry."

Kisari had just finished preening herself when several men suddenly rushed into the room shouting.

"Lar!"

"The big bird's disappeared!"

The oldster rounded on them with mock anger, though his eyes were lit with a mischievous light. "I can see that, idiots!"

They stopped slack jawed as they caught sight of the missing bird.

"How did it…?"

"What the…?"

"What do you want us to do, Lar?" It was Harry, trying hard not to laugh. The oldster scowled at Kisari. He glanced at Cloud, bushy brows raised and Cloud walked over to the chocobo. She scrambled to her feet, startling the men. He reached out to scratch her jaw affectionately and Kisari's eyes half closed as she crooned with pleasure.

"She won't hurt anyone as long as they don't attack me. But she can be a bit overprotective."

"Just like a woman," Lar grinned. He waved the men back. "Let her stay boys! She ain't doin' no harm." He looked at Cloud. "Now that that's settled… Hey Tom!" Lar interrupted himself. "Make yourself useful and bring us something to eat!" Tom lumbered out the door, face red as a beet, and Lar turned back to Cloud. "Been meaning to ask you what you're doing round these parts. Haven't seen many folks lately, but I heard tell of some sort of organizing getting started up at Midgar. Is it Shinra?"

Cloud shook his head. "No. Shinra is no longer controlling things. We have a real Mayor in Midgar now."

"Not that idiot Domino?"

Cloud had to smile at mention of Shinra's puppet Mayor who had ended up giving him the key card to the next floor just to spite his masters. "No. Reeve is running Midgar with the help of a few ex-SOLDIERS and troopers."

"And you?" Lar asked. "What're you doing so far from Midgar?"

Cloud glanced at Kisari's empty back and sighed. "Well, I was on my way to Junon with some letters, if I haven't lost them."

Tom arrived with sandwiches and tea and Lar told him to bring up their guest's belongings. Cloud quickly checked the saddlebags, where he found the letters and Marlene's brightly wrapped present. He breathed a sigh of relief. Lar looked quizzically at him as Cloud stuffed the letters back inside the saddlebags and took a large tuber from the other pack. Kisari's head came up and she accepted it with obvious delight. Apparently some kind of special treat, the old man decided.

The blonde SOLDIER turned disconcertingly glowing blue eyes back to Lar and asked, "Is there anything you need here? Food, supplies, batteries? I'm sure I could get at least a few things…"

Lar grinned. "Never mind that. Seeing you alive and well's enough for us. Although…" Cloud waited expectantly and Lar chuckled. "…we could use a few potions, elixirs, and such. We kinda used our last ones on you."

Cloud looked embarrassed.

"Don't worry bout it," Lar assured him. "We'd of used it on anybody that needed it. You just needed more. Course," he frowned thoughtfully, "you survived and none of the others did." He stopped as a haunted expression flickered across the young man's face. "Sorry. Did I say something wrong?"

"No. It's nothing," Cloud assured him, his soft voice tinged with sadness. "I'll call a friend of mine and let her know what you need." He pulled out a small cell phone, flipped it open, and tapped a number.

"Hi. I'm at Fort Condor. Yes…" Cloud blushed. "No, I'm fine, but I'd like you to gather together some supplies for them." He rattled off a list of several potions and remedies in quick succession. Lar opened his mouth to protest, but the SOLDIER shot him a look that broached no argument and he shut it again without a word. Cloud nodded. "Thanks." He snapped the phone shut and replaced it at his belt. Looking at Lar, he said, "It may take awhile since I seem to be the only delivery service that can reach this far." He shrugged and ducked his head, looking embarrassed. Then he rummaged in his belt pouch and brought out a handful of gil.

Lar jumped up, hands out to stop him, and shook his head vigorously. "There ain't no reason to be paying us, young man," he exclaimed. "Them potions and stuff will be more than enough."

"Please." Cloud looked at the money as if it was something distasteful.

Lar was taken completely off guard. He found himself accepting the payment with a shrug, feeling guilty somehow for trying to refuse it. What a strange man, he thought. He seemed older than he looked and Lar wondered how long SOLDIERS lived, since it obviously took a lot to kill them.

Cloud busied himself with the chocobo, slipping the bridle on and cinching the saddlebags around her neck and chest. He checked to be sure the harness didn't pinch anywhere then turned to lead Kisari out the door.

"Just curious, but how you gonna get that big bird down a rope ladder?" Lar asked casually.

Cloud grinned. "The same way she got up here," he said. "Climb."

Lar stood up. "This I gotta see!" He followed Cloud out.

And it was something to see, Lar had to admit to himself. That gold bird actually grabbed the rope with its beak, flipped over and climbed down the rope using its beak and oversized claws! Cloud quickly followed. Once outside, the young man hopped aboard the chocobo's back and took off at a pace no man and few monsters could match. Lar shook his head. He looked at the money in his hand, pocketed it, and went back inside the Fort to smack a few well deserving heads together.

Cloud hadn't bothered to mention to Lar that he wasn't completely recovered from the Bandersnatch attack. His joints ached and his vision still kept shifting in and out, though he could see better now that he was outside in the chill morning air. He was worried about the dreams. Could Hojo really be alive? It didn't seem likely, but the feeling of dread that welled up inside him when he remembered what he'd seen told him that at least his instincts believed it. He shuddered at the thought of the mad scientist in his new form, controlling men and monsters alike. If Hojo had wanted to create a god in Sephiroth, then he had truly managed to become a demon himself.

Still, he decided not to share his fears with anyone. His friends might think he'd gone over the edge and perhaps he had. Perhaps he was falling once more into the madness that had controlled him since he awoke in Hojo's lab. He leaned over Kisari's back and urged her to greater speed. She chirped happily, stretched out her neck, and the landscape began to shoot past him in a whirlwind of color, leaving Cloud alone to wrestle with his fears.


	10. Chapter 10

128

**Disclaimer**: Final Fantasy VII and all associated characters and symbols are the exclusive property of Square Enix and its associates.

Ten…

"Interesting."

Hojo stared at where Cloud had appeared above him like a specter from the past. The scientist wondered how the young man kept managing to appear when and where he was least expected, achieving what no other Sephiroth clone had done. The Failure! It didn't make any sense, but there it was.

He concentrated, dissolved the last monster into smoke, and inhaled its essence, completing his new body. He flexed his tentacle arms, feeling whole again after such a long time. It was good to be able to move when he wanted to instead of when whoever or whatever was carrying his cells decided to. Hojo drifted toward the Shinra Mansion, still testing his newfound abilities and body. A heady feeling of power coursed through him and he regretted not having used Jenova cells on himself before this. But then those monsters and that Turk… what was his name? ...who tried to interfere with his experiment on Lucrecia's baby had given him pause. He looked at his monstrous, wonderful body and laughed. Ah well, better late than never!

Memories began to seep into his mind from the collection of humans he had assimilated; disjointed memories that when added together told him much of what happened after he was killed. It was funny in a way. All his work destroyed, Sephiroth gone and Jenova trying to bring him back. He knew it all; how they were defeated and by whom.

"Very interesting. So the Failure has beaten us all." He chuckled. "But not for long. Oh no! Not for long."

He floated up the steps and entered the mansion. It was empty; covered in thick layers of cobwebs and dust and Hojo paused, remembering all the good days he had spent in this place early on in his career with Professor Gast. It had been his first big step up in his quest to become the world's most renowned scientist and he had ruthlessly eliminated anyone who stood in his way; stealing research projects, taking credit wherever he could, even killing people if they got in his way. He chuckled as he remembered that pitiful Turk who was so enamored of Lucrecia that he actually confronted him, Hojo, in an attempt to force him to leave her alone! He'd had the nerve to suggest that Hojo was being inhumane by using his stupid lab assistant for such an unsafe experiment! Then, when Lucrecia collapsed after the birth of Sephiroth, he once again confronted Hojo, as if it was his fault! Hmph! It was Lucrecia's choice after all to allow the treatments on her unborn child, so it wasn't his fault no matter how one looked at it! And even though he told everyone that the child was his, he wouldn't put it past that damnable wench to have gotten pregnant from some other guy and told him it was his. Who knows? It might even have been that Turk's. Wouldn't that be funny? He could just imagine the man's reaction to the news. Hojo giggled gleefully. What a sight that would be! But his chance for a little needling had passed. He'd fought and lost against that blonde SOLDIER reject, that… Cloud! It was all coming back to him. But now it seemed like he might get another chance if his suspicions proved correct.

Hojo paused as he felt new presences enter his mind. More people and monsters that had been infected by his Jenova enhanced cells when they were scattered by the explosion of Meteor, Holy, and the Lifestream were moving toward him. It was like his own little Reunion and he giggled. He could see even through their eyes if the infection had spread enough and he bothered to concentrate on them. Sometimes he could even control them like puppets, just as Sephiroth had. That's how he'd "pulled himself together." He chuckled at his own joke. It was a strange experience for him, being carried as millions of tiny pieces by humans and animals; to be aware but not consciously able to manipulate anything. He thought he understood Jenova better now. It was frustrating. And then one day enough of his cells came together in one human and it responded to his whisperings. It took a lot of time to bring enough of the stray bits of himself together to form a head. From there it was easier to find and manipulate others. He had also learned, to his delight, that he could actually use the affected ones to infect others, creating his own private army of humans and monsters. Of course, monsters responded better. The humans kept dying before he could use them for more than a few weeks. He needed to perfect some kind of system wherein he could control the human hosts for longer periods. They were much more useful than monsters for his scientific experiments. But for now they served their purpose, providing him with much needed information. Hojo crossed to the grand staircase and glided up to the top floor. Hovering there a long moment, he looked over his private domain, then turned and scooted down the secret passageway that led to his laboratory.

A human, or what was left of it, lay on the examination table inside. The person was so covered in growths that it was hardly recognizable as human. Oh well! He had plenty more where that came from. He'd just call a few more in and try again. With a casual thought Hojo turned it to smoke and swallowed its energy, growths and all. Then he wandered through other rooms, checking experiments he had long ago abandoned. A twisted body more monster than human caught his eye. It reminded him of the monsters he'd created at the Mt. Nibel reactor over five years ago, which inevitably led his train of thought back to the event that started all of this.

"Sephiroth," he whispered. His greatest experiment.

President Shinra's new top Turk, Tseng something or other, had tried to tell him what they learned during their investigation of the Nibelheim Incident. He hadn't paid much attention at the time, but the gist of it was easy enough to see even to his own untrained eye. Sephiroth burned the village to the ground after discovering his and Professor Gast's experiments with him and Jenova. Then he proceeded to Mt. Nibel and claimed Jenova's head. A SOLDIER First Class named Zack tried to stop him and got beaten to within an inch of his life for his interference.

Hojo scowled. He hadn't proven to be a very interesting specimen.

From there the details got fuzzy. A young nobody trooper to all intents and purposes seemed to have done what a SOLDIER First Class could not. Not only did he stop Sephiroth, it looked like he actually managed to destroy him! Or his body at least, since Hojo had seen Sephiroth rebuilding himself in that chrysalis in the Northern Crater later on. Hojo recalled the body of the trooper. There'd been a hole in his chest left by Sephiroth's sword; a killing blow if he ever saw one. According to Tseng, the sword was still buried there when they found him, his hands wrapped around the blade so tightly that they'd nearly had to sever some fingers to get it free. Sephiroth was missing, as was the head of Jenova. And yet no matter how much he interrogated that damned SOLDIER, all he got was a wicked grin and the same annoying answer.

"I killed Seph. Leave the kid alone."

But he didn't believe him then and he definitely didn't now. Something had happened between Sephiroth and the trooper, something impossible, and he wanted to know what it was! Hojo tapped an empty specimen tank absently with one tentacle tip, thinking. Apparently Cloud had something up his sleeve that nobody was aware of, because there was no way he could have defeated Sephiroth no matter how lucky he was, unless there were other forces at work. Hojo tried concentrating on the trooper to see if he could find him. It was difficult. Even though the man had been infected by his virus, Hojo could only get a hazy image of earthen walls. He tried to force his will on the SOLDIER like he did with all the other infected human puppets, but the man didn't react. In fact, he didn't seem to be aware of Hojo at all. Even now the Failure denied him! It was insufferable! The scientist scanned the area until he came upon a more willing mind. It was only a lowly bat, but it was enough. He impressed upon its pea-sized brain the need to locate the blonde SOLDIER and follow him at all costs. At least that way Hojo could keep tabs on the fellow until he decided what to do with him.

Hojo shook his head as he glided toward a heavy metal door. He'd used more concentrated Mako and Jenova cells on that dead trooper before reviving him than on any of the clones he later tattooed and sent back to play out their roles in Nibelheim. It had literally destroyed the boy; leaving a mindless, soulless, Mako poisoned failure that didn't even respond to Jenova like the other clones did. But, for some reason he couldn't fathom, Sephiroth seemed to favor him. It had come as quite a surprise when the trooper appeared in the Northern Crater with the Black Materia and gave it to Sephiroth. Hojo giggled, remembering the brief conversation he'd had with Cloud on the beach of Costa Del Sol. At the time, he'd asked the boy whether he felt a strange compulsion to follow Sephiroth. How ironic that he'd actually been right. Still, Hojo thought, as he tapped a code onto the security keypad with one tentacle tip; waste not, want not.

The thick metal door slid aside and he scooted through it into a corridor that had been carved into the very rock of the mountain. It was lined on both sides with Mako tanks like the ones he'd used in the Nibel reactor, though these were mostly empty now. He stopped in front of a special alcove at the end of the corridor where four specimen tanks were perched atop fancy pedestals; each occupied by a human male. The two older ones were eighteen by his calculation, while the other two were ten years younger. All of them slept peacefully within the protective growth fluid, and all of them looked pretty much alike save in stature; with lean muscled bodies, elegant features, and long silver hair.

"Let's just see which one Sephiroth favors this time," he commented out loud.

These clones were far superior to the Nibelheim survivors he had tried to fashion into Sephiroth clones, as he called them, using Jenova cells and Mako treatments. He'd used Sephiroth's own cells to create them; two when Sephiroth was seven years old and two more ten years later. That was all the viable cells he'd had and he'd been more than a little put out when he learned he could no longer order the Ancient he'd created to come back to his lab for more samples. Shinra valued his little General more than he valued Hojo's important scientific research! Of course, it was to Hojo's advantage to give in to the President's demands for new SOLDIERS, as he called them, like Sephiroth. It had been the start of a new and lucrative business; the SOLDER program. That is, until Scarlet took that away from him too. He balled his fists then frowned as he had a sudden thought. The two matured clones would need to be released and trained in the art of fighting or they would be weak, useless vessels for Sephiroth. He would need weapons for them too. Special weapons, since they were special. But where could he find weapons worthy of true Sephiroth clones, as well as somebody to train them in the art of fighting? His eyes suddenly shone with an evil light and he chuckled. Who indeed? Why, Scarlet, of course! What wonderful irony. He rubbed his tentacles together and sent out orders to all the monsters and humans under his command to find and bring him the Weapons Mistress of Midgar. Yes! This could prove interesting and maybe even entertaining.

It took Cloud three days to reach Junon Harbor. He did see more monsters than usual, but none of them were infected by the growths and Kisari easily outdistanced the ones that showed any interest in the traveling pair. However, for some reason he couldn't explain even to himself, he felt as if he was being watched. He didn't understand why, but he had learned to trust his instincts so he rode quickly, keeping his eyes alert for any unusual movement just in case.

Junon had changed a lot since the last time he was there. The little fishing village below the Shinra Base seemed livelier somehow and there were even a few fish being sold from an open shop near the steps that led to the ocean. Cloud also found a different guard at the elevator which still carried people and machines from the small fishing village up to the Junon Base. He let Cloud and Kisari enter without even asking for a bribe, though he eyed the chocobo warily. Cloud decided it was the attitude of the people that made the place seem so different. There was still a definite military presence here, but it was more professional. Not at all like the former Shinra troopers who had scrambled for money, acting bored until the new Shinra president arrived and set them all into a panic. The elevator let them off inside a building which Cloud immediately recognized. It was the place where he got caught and forced to change into a trooper outfit for the parade that was supposed to greet Rufus. Kisari ducked her head when it bumped the ceiling and pecked at his shoulder chidingly.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "I forgot." He shrugged and led her through the narrow hallway, out the door and across a passage which led down to the submarine bay. The chocobo followed, her head practically leaning on his shoulder to keep from hitting the ceiling and he patted her reassuringly on the beak. Finally they stepped out onto the wide main street which spanned the length of Junon harbor and she gratefully lifted her head, crest feathers ruffled. Many civilians shared the base with the military and Cloud felt their stares as he led Kisari past delivery trucks and a helicopter that was giving rides around the Base. One child leaned out of a passing car and shouted excitedly, "Look mommy! There's a monster in the road!"

"It's okay, Kisari," Cloud scratched her neck feathers reassuringly. "I guess they don't see many chocobos around here." Kisari chuffed in agreement and nudged him to hurry up. He chuckled and quickened his pace. If he remembered correctly, the Post Master of Junon was on the right side of the road, just past the carrier lift. He tied Kisari to a post outside and entered the shop. A man with a harried expression looked up as he entered and gave him a cautious once over. Cloud held out the bundle of letters from Midgar like a peace offering as he walked up to the counter.

"Hi," he said. "I have some letters from Midgar for Junon?" He watched the Post Master's expression shift from incredulity to delight and he moved forward eagerly to take the proffered bundle.

"Thanks!" he said, glancing quickly over the letters. Cloud nodded and turned to leave, but the man's voice stopped him at the door. "Wait! Are you going to be here very long? Cause I've got some mail that needs to be delivered to Midgar, if you don't mind?"

Cloud shrugged. "Sure. But I'm going the other direction right now. Do you mind if I pick it up on the way back?"

The Post Master broke into a wide grin. "No problem! And thanks! I was just trying to figure out how I was going to get these letters to Midgar. Are you going to be making regular runs through here by any chance? I could really use the help."

"Well," Cloud shrugged. "I don't really know…" He thought about it. "Maybe," he finally said.

"Great! I'll see you when you get back."

Cloud tapped his forehead with one finger in an informal salute and stepped outside. He looked around as he pulled Kisari's reins free. The sun was going down and he knew should probably find a place to stay for the night, but first he needed to check and see if a ship was leaving for Costa Del Sol anytime soon. Of course he could just ride the gold chocobo across the ocean. He'd done it before on more than one occasion; riding across the endless watery landscape and sleeping on the chocobo's back while his toes got wet. It wasn't very comfortable and he hoped to avoid it this time if at all possible. He was sure Kisari would agree with him. As they walked slowly down the main street, Cloud glanced up. That was where the Junon Cannon had originally been mounted before they transferred it to Midgar and changed its name. Only the giant cradle remained now. He stopped a moment and stared at it. Barret had given him a detailed rundown on the attack by Sapphire Weapon and Avalanche's subsequent escape from Rufus Shinra and Scarlet. Cloud tried to imagine the cannon firing point blank into the head of one of the behemoths he had seen briefly in the Northern Crater and shook his head. It would have been something to see. Barret had been quite voluble about the whole thing, swinging his arms and shouting in emphasis as he told his side of the story, ragging Yuffie for sneaking out on them when they escaped the Crater in President Shinra's airship; the Highwind. The ninja girl had just given him a warning gesture with her throwing star and stuck her tongue out in answer. Cloud shrugged and continued down the road, leading Kisari with the reins very obviously in view.

There was in fact a ship leaving for Costa Del Sol the next morning and Cloud paid passage for both him and Kisari. However, when he tried to check into a hotel for the night, he found that all the local hotels refused to let the chocobo stay anywhere nearby. He understood their reluctance to have an animal as big as a chocobo standing outside their business. Kisari probably would scare a few of the more timid customers away, so he couldn't really blame them. But it put him in an awkward position. Finally he went back to the ship he'd booked passage on and spoke to one of the sailors. A little money changed hands and they got on board early. The crew helped him form a makeshift stall using crates and some bales of straw and he led Kisari inside. Cloud pulled off the saddlebags, though he left the bridle on for the crew's sake. Of course if she wanted to, Kisari could easily have leaped over such flimsy barriers, but Cloud didn't mention that. He knew she would stay because he asked her to.

The ship's horn blew early the next morning, notifying everyone that it was about to put out to sea, and Cloud spoke softly to Kisari, reassuring her when the ship's engines suddenly throttled up to a deep roar and she jumped, startled by the racket. He spent most of the day with her, sensing through his feet and ears when the ship pulled away from the Harbor and headed out to sea. The day was a long one. Cloud quickly got his sea legs and helped around the hold, moving boxes and some crates which a couple of crewmen nearly dropped because of the weight. He took a brief respite, climbing up on deck for a breath of fresh air before he went back down into the hold to check on Kisari and the sailors. They seemed to be getting along well enough. At least the sailors weren't looking warily at the chocobo every time they went past her now. One even ventured to pet her on the neck while Cloud watched. The man laughed delightedly when the chocobo nuzzled him, begging for more attention. Cloud knew she wasn't the demonstrative type, but somehow Kisari knew what needed to be done, even if it meant having to endure a stranger's touch. When the sun finally sank below the waves and the ship's night lights came on, Cloud gave her a final pat on the shoulder.

"Thanks," he said quietly, for her ears only, and she dipped her head toward him, chirruping happily. Cloud smiled. "I'll be back in the morning. Just keep a low profile and get some sleep, okay?"

"Kweeh," she sighed, then nipped playfully at his shoulder. He batted her away with a grin and headed back up on deck. His cabin was a small one, really no more than a room with a fold down bunk. The bathroom was down the hall. But since this was a cargo ship and not a luxury liner, the fact that it had a bed was enough for him. It had been a long day, made longer by the night he'd had to spend with Kisari in the hold before they left harbor, and he flopped on the bunk with a sigh, enjoying even this much luxury after all of the days of sleeping on the ground. The ship rolled sideways suddenly, making his stomach lurch, and he sympathized with poor Yuffie before shifting his attention elsewhere. He remembered how motion sick he used to get when he was a Shinra trooper. Something had changed in him when Hojo subjected his body to the Mako treatments and Jenova injections. He didn't just acquire the reflexes and strength of a SOLDIER, but also the ability to control his body when necessary; like now. With a mere thought he was able to ignore the motion sickness and it went away. The same could be said of most pain, if inflicted by physical injuries. Mental pain wasn't so easy. He grimaced and rolled over, pulling the blanket over him. His wounds repaired themselves at a frightening rate, which had taken some getting used to. His mind was capable of ignoring pain, leaving him free to deal with whatever needed his attention at the moment. It was like he could turn it off and deal with it later. He hated Hojo for what he'd done to him and he hated being this way because it was a constant reminder of what he had lost; his mother, Zack, and inevitably… Aeris.

Cloud squeezed his eyes shut and blanked his mind. He needed to sleep! He ordered his body to sleep and, after a few minutes of struggling with his feelings, it obeyed.

He was staring into a mirror; blue eyes glowing softly back at him, haunted and lonely. Why? He wasn't lonely. He had Tifa and Marlene, Reeve and the people of Midgar. The eyes didn't have an answer and he shook his head and turned away. He went to the chair where he'd draped his sword, hearing Tifa as she came up the stairs. He smiled briefly. She was probably bringing him more flyers. He'd put up all the ones they'd made so far. They were a bit simple, he had to admit. Really no more than a few scribbled words announcing that 'Cloud Strife Delivery Service would deliver anything anywhere' and that 'interested parties should call for specifics at the Seventh Heaven Bar in Sector 1.' Tifa added that last. She'd chided him for not putting in enough information then re-did the lettering for him. It did look better when she was done, though he still didn't see what the big deal was.

The pain when it hit was so intense and so sudden that he stumbled, falling against the chair and knocking the sword and scabbard to the floor. He grabbed his head and sank to his knees as his vision started to fragment. Something moved inside of him, ripping through his body, trying to push him out. Then it exploded behind his eyes with a force that made him bite his tongue to keep from screaming.

CLOUD. A familiar voice echoed inside his head.

NO!

He batted at the air in front of him, trying to force the voice and the pain away, but it had burrowed its way deep inside of him. He tried to stand up, but heat prickled through his body, spreading down his arms and into his fingers. His chest felt too tight suddenly and his legs would no longer hold him. He collapsed onto the floor, curled into a fetal position as the fire raged through his veins, burning him away piece by piece.

CLOUD! The voice called, commanding him to obey.

LEAVE ME ALONE! He tried to scream in defiance, but it only laughed at him, amused by his futile efforts. He tried to crawl to the door and lock it. Tifa was almost outside his room. He could hear her footsteps. She mustn't see him like this! His fingers ached and he looked down at them, confused. They were too long, slender and pale. His scalp prickled as if someone was stabbing him with a thousand needles and he reached up to pull at it. It was silky and he could feel it growing even as he touched it! Strands of it curled beneath him in silver pools on the floor. His eyes wouldn't focus clearly. It felt like another pair of eyes was burning behind his own, taking over, and he was losing himself in them!

"Cloud, I have the rest of the flyers," Tifa said as she entered. She saw him on the floor and stopped, mouth opening in shock. He looked up and fear replaced the worry in her eyes. He felt a strange thrill suddenly course through him. It was pleasure! He felt pleasure at her reaction. He stood slowly, drawing himself up and as he raised the Masamune over her head he realized that he had wanted to do this for a long time.

"TIFA!"

Cloud lunged up from the bed, the echo of his voice ringing in the air around him. He grabbed his face to confirm it was really his. His eyes burned and he rose quickly and stumbled across to the small mirror on the wall. They were blue, no… they were green! He shook his head, rubbing them furiously, and looked again. They were blue, but he no longer took comfort in that. He'd seen green; he was sure of it! Cloud frantically searched his room. He didn't know what for. He stopped when he realized he was acting hysterical, then suddenly grabbed the blanket off the rumpled bed and hurried out of the cabin. He didn't trust himself anymore. What if Sephiroth really was trying to take him over like he'd done to all those pitiful clones he and his friends had run into?

No… NO! He shook his head furiously as he descended the steps to the hold and crossed to the stall where Kisari slept, head tucked under one wing. Cloud settled himself in the straw next to her, pulled the blanket around his shoulders and spent the rest of the night in her stall, eyes wide open; afraid that if he fell asleep he, Cloud, wouldn't be the one to wake up.

Cloud remained in Kisari's stall the rest of the trip. Lying awake each night, wrapped in his blanket, he listened to the sounds of the chocobo sleeping and the grumblings of the few night watchmen as they made their rounds. During the daylight hours he talked to her, grooming her endlessly, until she shown like the color of the metal for which she was named. He avoided the crew as much as he could and ate his food alone inside her stall, comforted by the sounds of the bird as she rustled about and by the smell of the straw. Kisari sensed her master's distress and each night she settled down next to him and let him lean against her. Cloud tried not to think about what was happening to him; tried to deny anything was wrong; because to do otherwise would be to admit that he was going crazy. He had never felt this way before, not even when Sephiroth was manipulating him. Sephiroth! He closed his eyes and pinched his nose between thumb and forefinger wearily. Was it possible he could actually have come back to life again? He'd done so once before at the Northern Crater. But then he'd had the Planet's life energy and Jenova to rebuild his body. There was nothing left to rebuild with this time. He'd made sure of it!

BUT THERE IS YOU, a voice whispered inside his mind. The voice of Jenova! He remembered it only too well and his stomach knotted up. He clenched his fists, gritting his teeth until his jaw ached. No! He would not give in to the voice or its lies. He'd believed it once; never again! Cloud leaned back against Kisari and crossed his arms, preparing for yet another sleepless night. The chocobo laid her head on his shoulder and he reached up and patted her gently, then sighed. It was going to be a long night.

"You want me to do what!"

Scarlet was not pleased. She was currently being held by two insect type creatures with disgusting growths all over their slimy bodies in the old Shinra Mansion in front of the last person on the planet she ever wanted to see again! He looked even more slimy than the monsters! All bug eyed with tentacles instead of arms, a human-like torso that hovered in mid-air, and the greasy black hair she remembered only too well.

Hojo laughed.

"Now Scarlet," he waved his tentacles in front of her face chidingly. "I'm offering a once in a lifetime chance to create unique weapons for my clones AND train them. What could be better? I'll even pay you." Scarlet stared at him open mouthed.

"Pay me!" she shrieked. "Why don't you just let me go, you big moron, and call it square?"

"Oh no!" He shook his head. "No, no! I couldn't do that. I need your services. Of course," he moved closer to her and watched her squirm. "I could just infect you like these monsters and you would willingly do anything I required," he crooned the threat. Of course he wouldn't do that, but she would never know. If there was one thing about Scarlet that was constant, it was her keen sense of self preservation. Scarlet avoided the scientist's eyes. She glanced at the icky growths on the monsters then quickly looked away, shoulders slumping. Hojo giggled triumphantly. It was so refreshing to know one's adversary's weaknesses.

"Excellent!" Hojo rubbed his tentacles together. "Bring her!" he ordered the monsters and glided toward his secret compound. "No wait!" He stopped them before they had gone two steps. No need to show her everything just yet. "Keep her here. I'll be right back. And don't damage her too much!" he called back teasingly as he disappeared through the door of the lab.

"Waaaiit!" her voice echoed plaintively after him as he slipped through the door, laughing.

An interminable hour later, Scarlet stared at the product of the mad scientist's efforts.

"Wow!" she couldn't help exclaiming as she stared at the two studs standing naked and at ease before her. They looked perfect, though they both needed a haircut. Names wouldn't be bad either. Hojo had just told her they were Specimen A and Specimen B then left them in her care with instructions to make it worth his while. Of course, there was also a gang of monsters watching her every move. The freak obviously had some kind of control over them, but at least he was keeping his end of the bargain. He hadn't killed her yet or turned her into a zombie.

"All right! First let's give you names." She considered them a moment, then turned to A and said, "You will be called Loz and you," she indicated B, "…are Yazoo. Got it?" Two silver heads nodded in unison and a shiver went up her spine. She frowned, shaking it off. Get a hold of yourself girl, she thought to herself. They're just a couple of mindless zombies in good looking bodies.

"Let's cut some of that hair off. It's too heavy and it'll get in the way when you're fighting." She looked around at the monsters and stuck her fists on her hips. "Well, Hojo? Are you listening?" When there was no answer, she started to move toward the door. She was immediately blocked by two reddish blobs of goo. She stopped. "Look!" she shouted at the ceiling. "If I'm going to do this right, I need clothes for them… though I don't mind the view," she commented to nobody in particular. "I also need facilities for physical hygiene and some place for them to practice with their new weapons."

"What new weapons?" Hojo's voice issued from a hidden speaker somewhere in the room. She suppressed a shudder.

"I'm working on that! But first I need to get these guys started in hand-to-hand! That okay with you?" She made the question as sarcastic as she could.

"Fine." The two goo twins moved away from the door to form a pathway which she walked through, her skin crawling. It took all her willpower not to shriek and start running. The two clones followed her obediently, unaffected by the monsters or the disembodied voice. A door slid open to her right and she headed that way, biting her lip. There had to be some way out of this place and she would find it one way or another. She knew that as soon as her usefulness was over, her life would be too.

The two clones looked different after she cut off more than two meters of hair. She chose different styles so she could tell them apart and it worked. For Loz, she cropped the hair real short. Yazoo had softer features, as she found out when she trimmed his up to shoulder height. Hojo provided black coats, pants, and boots. Scarlet ranted about that, to no effect. She finally settled on cutting Loz' coat short and left Yazoo's long. It was obvious who these clones were supposed to be and she found herself shuddering occasionally at the thought of two Sephiroths running around loose. She didn't know how Hojo had acquired them and she didn't want to know! But maybe she could use them to her advantage somehow.

At first they merely responded to her training like a couple of robots and that pissed her off. Then, during one of their sparring practices, she lost her temper and slapped Yazoo for not paying attention to her directions. His cat green eyes narrowed, and he gave her a look of suppressed rage that sent chills up her spine. She decided to keep her hands to herself. No, they were definitely not robots! Hojo checked in on their progress the first few days, but he seemed to lose interest pretty quickly. Probably found another toy that was more interesting, she figured, and once more she found herself considering escape. She glanced at the two clones as they worked out. She had started them on the basics of hand-to-hand fighting and they had taken to it like baby chocobos to running. Now she had them working on more difficult moves, using monsters Hojo had kindly provided her for that purpose. Loz suddenly shot through the air and came down on the head of a dragon. Scarlet watched him closely, gauging the movement with experienced eyes to see if it was controlled or just exuberant. It was hard to figure these clones out. They did everything she ordered them to, as if it was just a game to them, and when a monster died they pouted, as if it had spoiled their fun.

Yazoo slipped beneath the dragon, hooked its jaw and did a back flip over its head, breaking its neck. Loz grinned at him and jumped down as the monster fell to the floor of the fighting arena. They looked at Scarlet to see her reaction and she frowned. They were good, she had to admit that, but the ease with which they killed gave her pause. The best SOLDIERS Shinra had ever produced didn't enjoy killing this much, or maybe she should say they didn't act as childish as this pair did when they killed. Even Sephiroth had more intelligence than these two! But then, she reminded herself, they'd only been 'born' a few days ago. Make that a week ago. Damn! She was losing track of the time. She couldn't allow that. The two 'brothers' - for lack of a better word - waited until she nodded her approval then broke into grins and started sparring with each other as they waited for instructions from her or until Hojo sent in another target to 'play' with.

Scarlet turned away, but her imperative was escape and maybe, just maybe, these two could help her. She thought about it. What if she called it a training exercise and got them to break her out of this hellhole? Once free, she'd take her chances. She stared at them, gauging their abilities. First the weapons, though. She'd already started making some and they'd need them no matter how good they were at killing monsters with their bare hands, because there'd be a hell of a lot more of them between her and freedom and she did NOT want to get caught under any circumstances! She smiled. Just a little longer, Hojo, she thought to herself. Then I am out of here!

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To Hyoga333, Macs, 1wngdngl, and Jana-Yggdrasil... Thank you for your reviews. It helps me know that somebody is enjoying my story and gives me the courage to continue with it. And because I can't believe so many people are hitting on these later chapters without some of them reading them, Thanks everyone, whoever you are!


	11. Chapter 11

146

**Disclaimer**: Final Fantasy VII and all associated characters and symbols are the exclusive property of Square Enix and its associates.

Eleven…

Hojo scowled as he concentrated on what the bat was looking at. He'd glanced in on Scarlet a few minutes ago and saw that the clones were doing well enough. They seemed to enjoy killing the monsters he sent them for practice, but there was no sign that Sephiroth had made any contact with them, nor did Jenova seem interested in them either. It was all fine and dandy to have a few Sephiroth clones around, and they could be useful, but what he wanted was the original; the god HE had made!

Meanwhile the Failure, Cloud, had crossed the ocean, spending most of his time in the hold, much to Hojo's displeasure. The bat had trouble getting inside, but even when it did there was nothing to see. The blonde SOLDIER just sat in the stall with that stupid bird of his and stared at the walls most of the time! Hojo didn't know why, which irritated him, and he couldn't reach the SOLDIER'S mind even though he'd been infected by the Hojo virus and that irritated him even more. He had learned just recently that SOLDIERS could take the effects of the virus without too much damage, at least for awhile. True, they were harder to control, but they also lasted longer than ordinary humans. Probably had something to do with the Jenova cells injected into them. But that knowledge didn't keep him from being frustrated with the blasted trooper!

Cloud led Kisari down the ship's ramp then turned toward the steps leading to the sleepy town of Costa Del Sol. His legs felt like he was still rocking on the ocean waves and he took careful steps until his balance reasserted itself and he got his land legs again. It felt strange to be walking in the bright sunlit village after the cold port at Junon. Sunbathers and surfboarders, tanned brown by the tropical sun, stared with open curiosity at Kisari and his hand instinctively tightened on the reins.

"War…rrk?"

"Just keep as low a profile as you can," he whispered softly.

"Kweeh," she sighed. The feathers on her head perked up as a few people wandered closer and she jumped slightly when one of them casually reached out and patted her shoulder.

"Nice ride you got there, dude!" A man in swimming trunks whistled appreciatively then he turned to his companion and they continued toward the sea to catch a few early morning waves. The gold chocobo sidled closer to Cloud, almost crowding him, and he frowned and started walking faster. What was wrong with these people? Hadn't they ever seen a chocobo before? Well… now that he thought about, they probably hadn't. Chocobos weren't exactly common to the area and the Gold Saucer was a long ways away, so they probably hadn't even seen any racing chocobos. Cloud knew Kisari wouldn't do anything to embarrass him, but he didn't want to impose on her either so he hurried across the square to the building where the Post Office was. It also served as the local hotel, restaurant and tourist shop.

"I'll be right back," he reassured her before ducking inside the low roofed building. The Post Master was draped across a lounge chair, dressed in swim trunks and a straw hat. He was reading a newspaper. He sent a lazy glance Cloud's way when he came in, then swung his legs off the lounge, set the newspaper down, stood and sauntered up to the counter. Cloud laid the packet of letters on the countertop with a brief grimace that tried hard to be a polite smile. Then without a word, he turned and hurried back outside, just in time to save Kisari from the attentions of several urchins that had stopped playing ball long enough to come over and start petting the giant yellow bird. One pulled out a feather, to the indignant squawk of the donor, and displayed it triumphantly to his friends.

"Hey!" Cloud rushed up before Kisari could punish the little brat. "I don't think she likes that so let's give her a little breathing room, okay?"

The kids ran off laughing, trying to snatch the feather from the boy who'd acquired it and Cloud reached out and softly rubbed the ruffled feathers where the boy had pulled. He knew it didn't hurt much to lose feathers, but having them pulled out wasn't likely to be appreciated either. He knew he didn't like having his hair pulled and figured it would feel about the same. After a minute soothing the great bird's pride, Cloud untied her reins and quickly led her down the cobbled road out of town. As soon as their feet hit grass, he hopped onto her back and Kisari took off. He had to grab her neck for balance, but he understood her feelings. It was time to shake the sand off and head for North Corel. Cloud briefly considered going over the mountain trail, but it would take him over the old railroad tracks that passed the reactor and he remembered how rickety they had been. One of the tracks had broken while he was walking along it and he had been forced to do some fancy aerial maneuvering to be able to catch hold of one of the trestles and pull himself up again. No! That was definitely not an option. She could probably cross unharmed, but he didn't want to put her danger when it wasn't really necessary and besides, he realized as he turned her south toward the Gold Saucer, he wasn't in very good shape to be riding through such rough terrain anyway.

As if in answer to that thought, his vision blurred briefly and he swayed sideways before catching himself. Frowning, he passed a hand over his eyes and tried to concentrate on the passing scenery. Weariness suddenly began to weigh heavy on him now that there was nothing to distract him. He'd had no sleep the entire journey across the ocean, five endless nights, and though he knew his body could stand a little more without too much trouble, it would be sheer folly to press his luck for no reason. He stared over Kisari's head as green hills slowly changed into rocks and scrub trees; the base of the Corel mountain range. But he didn't see any of it.

Cloud knew he was just holding off the inevitable by depriving himself of sleep and that it would eventually catch up to him with a vengeance. But he couldn't bring himself to give up and let it happen without a fight. Sephiroth was in his mind all the time now, staring through his eyes, burning into his brain, demanding his attention. And though he wanted to deny it, he was pretty sure the man had somehow found a way to enter his body. He should be dead. He was dead! So why, and more importantly, how was he doing this? Maybe he really was some sort of horrendous god that refused to die and would continue to haunt Cloud forever, reincarnating over and over.

No, he didn't even want to think about that!

Cloud realized he was beginning to nod off and stiffened. He shook his head, forcing himself to look around and take a few deep breaths. He couldn't afford to let his guard down, not even for one minute, because he didn't know what would happen if he did. He just knew it would be bad. And yet, despite his best efforts, he missed the bat with nodules on its head as it fluttered in the air above and a little behind him, watching him with the gaze of a madman behind its tiny yellow eyes.

Several hundred kilometers away in Nibelheim, Scarlet was on the verge of having a fit. She watched as Loz and Yazoo fired the new sword pistols she'd managed to put together from the materials Hojo supplied her. She guessed that he had sent his monsters to fetch the parts she demanded, because some of them were dented by what looked like teeth, while others had obviously been slobbered on. Yuck! At least he had a decent workshop in that weird lab of his, which was a surprise. She figured it was just sheer dumb luck though. The egghead didn't have any concept of what was required to design and manufacture weapons. Probably stole all the stuff from someone else, she thought sourly, just like he did most of his work.

Scarlet scowled at the monsters Hojo had grudgingly provided for this practice session. The two clones were dancing around some kind of dinosaur thing, darting in and out in unison as they first distracted the beast, played with it a bit, then killed it. They were good, though somewhat cruel, like cats who had captured a fly and wanted to make it last while they continued to torment it. Something else Scarlet had noticed was how the pair showed an unusual capacity to work together as one unit, almost – and she thought this was creepy – as if they were communicating mind to mind. More than once she'd seen them glance at each other then, without saying a word, simultaneously attack their newest adversary from different angles with amazing effectiveness. But they needed real opponents; human opponents who were adept at human fighting and would offer more of a challenge for her students.

Yazoo glanced at Loz and both of them converged on the next monster, a dragon that was practically covered in those disgusting growths. While Loz caught the monster's attention, Yazoo circled around behind it and put six bullets into the back of its head. His aim was precise, but it lacked finesse and Scarlet frowned. Then Loz suddenly disappeared. Scarlet blinked and he reappeared several meters away. Yazoo had apparently already guessed his brother's intentions because he was closing in on a pair of Dual Horns, guns blazing away. The Dual Horns were better equipped to deflect the bullets because of their thick hides, but while they turned defensively toward the irritant on one side, Loz came up behind them, leaped on one's back and slammed his Dual Hound weapon into the base of its neck; the only weak point on the mammoth-like creatures. Scarlet was particularly pleased with the Dual Hound weapon she'd created. It carried a massive electric charge, more than the night sticks the Turks were issued. It was strapped to the user's forearm, strictly a close range weapon, and could be activated by the bar under the wrist. Loz seemed to like it. Yazoo meanwhile slipped around the second monster. He shot it point blank in the eyes and both monsters went down almost simultaneously. Loz and Yazoo leapt backwards, avoiding being crushed by the falling mountains of flesh and looked around for more monsters to play with.

"Stop!" she commanded them finally, disgusted. They froze in place and looked toward her, waiting expectantly for her next instructions. It still amazed her how they did that. A small dragon charged the two brothers and she frowned. Once again Hojo wasn't paying attention. Before she could order Yazoo to take care of the problem, he raised his double-bladed sword and sliced the rampaging beast's head off. It plowed into the dust of the arena, blood spraying everywhere and he jumped back delicately, as if reluctant to get blood on his clothes. For all Scarlet knew, that was precisely what he was doing. Loz grinned at his brother and turned back to look at Scarlet.

"Gawd!" She wasn't sure who to curse first, these 'children' or the biggest numbskull of them all. "Hojo! When are we going to get some real fighters?" The two clones stood quietly, eyes watchful as they waited to hear the answer. They were like a couple of overgrown school boys waiting to see if they were going to get presents or a good chewing out.

"I'm working on it." Hojo sounded bored. With the clones showing no signs of turning into Sephiroth or responding to Jenova, he was getting impatient. I suppose I'll have to check on other means, he thought to himself. But his choices at the moment were limited. To find and rebuild Sephiroth seemed nearly impossible if Jenova herself couldn't find him. Of course, he could send his infected monsters and humans to collect information on where Sephiroth might be found; in pieces or otherwise. He decided to check in on a couple of newly infected humans living in Midgar to see what they could find out. Maybe he should also infect a couple more just in case he needed new eyes. It occurred to him that Sephiroth had already chosen to rebuild himself in the Northern Crater once. What if he was there again? Hojo concentrated to see if any infected monsters were in the region and frowned. Not one?! How could that be? He'd found monsters all over the planet infected by his virus and figured that the explosion sent his cells throughout the world when Meteor was destroyed. It was the only way he could explain how his Jenova enhanced cells had managed to infect so many humans and monsters.

"When!?"

Hojo twitched. He was beginning to hate that whining, demanding voice. "Soon!" he snapped, checking once more to be sure there really were no infected people or animals of any kind in the area of the Crater. He widened his search and was surprised again. There weren't even a few scattered across the Northern Continent! He chewed his lip irritably. "Now don't bother me, I'm busy!"

"Fine!" Scarlet snarled. She turned to the two clones. "Come with me," she commanded, stomping out of the practice area and down the corridor towards their temporary living quarters. She'd had enough! It was time to get out while the getting was good. Scarlet had finally figured out where she was. Of course she'd known she was somewhere in Nibelheim, since that was where the monsters dragged her when they caught her heading toward the Gold Saucer in an attempt to find a new job. That idiot Heidegger! If he hadn't hit the wrong button, she could've still salvaged the Proud Clod and beaten those stuck up brats calling themselves Avalanche. Avalanche! What a stupid name, as if they were some unstoppable force or something. What a joke, except… they had managed to beat Sephiroth. She had no idea how and didn't care. All she cared about was saving her own hide when the shit hit the fan. And now look at her! Stuck in a madman's lab with two Sephiroth look-a-likes and a bunch of icky monsters dripping green goo everywhere! But lately, she'd noticed Hojo's little pet monster guards were paying less attention to her, which meant so was Hojo, and she intended to use that inattention to her advantage.

"Loz," she stopped suddenly, turning to look at the silver-haired brothers. They paused and one of the monster guards bumped into Loz. He grunted and pushed back, knocking it into the one next to it which sent both of them sprawling. Loz grinned and Scarlet rolled her eyes. Oh well. It didn't matter. What mattered was that she had a pretty good idea of how to get out of this stinking prison and these boys were going to help her. That was the delicious part of the plan. Let Hojo stick that one in his pie and eat it!

"We're going to try something new," she announced. Then for Loz's benefit she added, "A game." She'd noticed the big moron liked games. He was always asking her if they could 'play'; his description for their training exercises. Yazoo was more quiet and harder to figure out, but he seemed amenable as long as it was fun. Yep! Just a couple of kids, though dangerous ones to be sure.

"The purpose of this exercise is to get past the monsters and escape the Mansion. I'll be watching your progress and so will Hojo, so do your best. Got it?" They nodded in unison, green eyes shining, and Scarlet waited to see if Hojo would mess things up by taking this inopportune moment to actually be paying attention to what she was doing. There was nothing. A smile slowly spread across her thickly painted lips and she made a show of checking her watch.

"I'm timing you," she announced. The two clones looked at each other and two sets of pale green eyes sparkled with anticipation.

Cloud rode Kisari slowly into the tiny village of North Corel, looking around in surprise. Real wooden houses were being built in place of the tents he remembered, and there were shops instead of the bench tables where the miners had first sold the pitiful junk they had scrounged from the old mines and the reactor. It was a sign of new prosperity and was largely due to Mayor Reeve's request for alternate power sources. Cloud hopped down from Kisari's back and almost fell. His legs were a bit wobbly from the long ride. Refusing to sleep had some advantages, he thought ruefully. It cut down on travel time. But he'd also spent very little time off her back and his legs weren't used to walking. Cloud waited a few seconds for his legs to stop shaking, then gently flipped the reins over her head and led her down the main dirt track, looking about in amazement at what a simple goal and some funding had done for a dying town.

When he reached the new supply store, Cloud loosely tied Kisari's reins to a post then dug into the saddlebags and carefully removed Marlene's slightly worse for wear present for Barret. The green wrapping paper was a bit more crinkled than before, but otherwise there were no tears or ragged edges, so he thought the picture should be okay. He didn't intend to stay long. In fact, Cloud intended to hand the present over to the first person he met and ask them to give it to Barret, then duck out of town before anyone else saw him. He didn't want to have to answer any questions right now about his condition. He knew he looked pretty bad, what with all the sleepless nights spent both on the ship and in the wild. Tifa was already worried about him because of the nightmares he'd had in Midgar. He didn't know how she did it, but she had an uncanny ability to pick up on even the slightest of changes in his mood and attitude, even when he didn't want her to. He'd kept his mouth shut about the disturbing dreams, not wanting to worry her, and he didn't think he made any noise in his sleep, but somehow she still knew. All he needed now was to have Barret on his back as well.

However, as luck or fate would have it, the first person he saw was Cid Highwind. The pilot emerged from a shop nearby and for just an instant Cloud was tempted to turn, jump back onto the chocobo and make a run for it. But the pilot spotted him before he could move and changed direction mid-stride. He waved as he walked toward Cloud, a delighted scowl spreading across his face, the proverbial cigarette defying gravity as it hung from his lip. Cloud shrugged amiably, irritated by his reaction to the pilot's presence. What was wrong with him anyway?

"Cloud!" the pilot shouted in greeting. The cigarette moved itself from one side of his mouth to the other. He chomped on it, checking Cloud over from head to toe as he approached. "What's up? You look like shit, man! Tifa been trying to get you to settle down or something?"

Cloud grimaced. "Not really," he shrugged. "Actually, I've started up a delivery business and was dropping by to give something to Barret." He held out Marlene's present and Cid stared at it.

"What's that?"

"A birthday present from Marlene for Barret."

Cid almost swallowed his cigarette in surprise. "His birthday?!" he growled. "How come nobody told me?"

"I didn't know until Tifa asked me to deliver it, so…" Cloud shrugged then looked appraisingly at the pilot. "Would you mind giving it to him?" he asked. "I'm kind of in a hurry…"

"Nonsense!" Cid suddenly grabbed his arm and started pulling him toward the old railway tracks where he'd nearly crashed the Shinra engine while chasing after the huge Materia. It was a good thing Cid knew how to put on the breaks because from what Cloud could see by the position of the engine, it had been a near thing.

"Barret! Yo, Barret!!"

Cid's shout snapped Cloud out of his musings and he jerked his arm roughly out of the pilot's grasp, eyes flashing as he glanced quickly around, not sure if he was looking for Barret or an escape route. Cid stared at him in surprise. Did the kid's eyes turn green there for just a second, or was he imagining things? And what the hell was with the attitude? That wasn't like the Cloud he knew!

Barret stomped out from behind the nearly derailed engine, slapping his hands against his pants to get some of the coal soot off. "The hell's all the noise?!" he growled. "I told ya to get whatever you need! You don't gotta drag me from work just ta show and tell, right?!" Then he saw Cloud and his face broke into a wide grin. "Spiky!! How ya doin? And how's Tifa and Marlene?" He stopped trying to dust himself off and walked up to Cloud and Cid, shaking his massive head in disbelief. Then his eyes caught on the festive green package Cloud was holding and he looked questioningly at the smaller man. "What's that?"

Cid snickered. Barret scowled at him, but turned back to Cloud.

"It's a present from Marlene for your birthday," Cloud explained quietly. He handed the tiny package over and watched as it nearly vanished in the big miner's fist. Barret stared at it with a mixture of pleasure and horror. Pleasure because it was from Marlene and horror because now everybody knew when his birthday was and would probably rag him mercilessly for it.

"Well, aren't you going to open it up?" Cid snorted when it looked like Barret might just tuck it in his vest for later. The pilot moved closer, trying to figure out what would fit in such a small package and Cloud started to back away, hoping to make his escape while the two men were distracted. He didn't get very far.

"Where you goin?!" Barret bellowed. Cloud winced. Sleeplessness seemed to have enhanced the sensitivity of his hearing, because the miner's voice rang out like a gong in his head. He hunched over in pain, trying not to clap his hands over his ears in sheer self defense. Cid and Barret moved up behind him, looking at each other over his shoulders with the same expression of concern in their eyes, but Barret voiced it. "Awright, Cloud. What's wrong? You don't look so great."

"Yeah," Cid chimed in. "You been getting enough sleep?"

Ouch! Talk about hitting the nail on the head. Cid had a disconcerting way of getting right to the center of a problem, though his method left much to be desired. Cloud straightened, carefully schooling his features into a neutral expression before he turned to look at his two friends. He forced a sheepish smile.

"Well, I have been on the road for awhile," he admitted. "And riding on a chocobo isn't the most comfortable way to travel." He said that for Barret's benefit, knowing it would instantly put the big man on his side. He wasn't disappointed.

"Man, you got that right!!" Barret responded, right on cue. "Damn birds wobble all over the place and those $# slippery feathers. Why don't you take one of the buggies we got here? They'll get you most anywhere." He stopped as Cloud started to shake his head.

"Thanks anyway, Barret." Cloud was glad he'd shifted the conversation from him to the chocobo and travel options. "They won't get me across the ocean to Wutai. I'm heading there to pick up a delivery from Yuffie, so the chocobo is still the best way." He forced a smile.

"Damn it!" Cid startled them both. "If the Highwind was working, I could just take you, chocobo and all, across the straits and drop you on that big ol' island nice as you please!" He clenched his jaw, breaking the cigarette in half, then spat it out in disgust. Pulling another from his jacket pocket, he stuck it in his mouth without lighting it, for which Cloud was grateful. The caustic smoke from those things had always made his eyes water, though he'd never tell Cid that.

"Sorry Cloud. But I promise I'll give you a ride on her when I finish overhauling the old girl." His eyes took on a triumphant gleam. "I've got some remodeling plans that'll blow your socks off!" He chuckled.

"Well," Cloud turned away. "I look forward to seeing you when it's finished." He only managed to take a few steps however before the ground suddenly lurched under him and he stumbled. Barret reached out and grabbed him, holding his arm firmly enough to steady him, while keeping him in place for further questioning.

"What's with you?" the burly miner demanded, eyes suspicious.

Cid flicked his cigarette to the other side of his mouth, considering. He'd known Cloud and fought with him enough times to recognize the signs, but he wasn't sure if it was any of his business to interfere. Obviously the kid was having more trouble than a little sleep deprivation, and it wasn't from traveling a long distance on chocobo back either. What he was seeing seemed more like a mental breakdown than anything else, as if Cloud had gone - or was still going - through some sort of psychological torture. He wasn't really that close to the young SOLDIER though, so he could be wrong. Then again, there was the little matter of Cloud's eyes turning green for an instant. Cid ground his teeth on the familiar tube of paper and nicotine, running one hand through his windblown hair in frustration. His fingers encountered the goggles he always wore and he rearranged them irritably. If there was something else going on with the kid, they needed to find out what it was. But Cloud wasn't exactly the sort who liked to share his problems with others, even his friends; especially since that fiasco when Sephiroth had taken control of him.

Cloud twisted around in Barret's grip and glared at him. Barret flinched and his grip on Cloud's arm loosened. He was used to seeing the glowing SOLDIER eyes, but did they just turn green? And that glare wasn't anything he'd ever seen Cloud do in all the time they'd spent together, in Midgar or running across the whole damned planet! Cloud yanked his arm out of Barret's loosened grasp and walked hurriedly away. Without looking back, he hopped onto Kisari's back and whistled her to a full run the moment they hit the dirt track leading out of town. Cid stared after him, lips pursed in a silent whistle. Barret looked down at the forgotten present in his hand, then up at where Cloud had already disappeared from view. He scowled.

"That ain't normal," he finally said. Cid nodded his head in agreement. Abruptly Barret pulled a battered cell phone from his work pants and flipped it open. Punching a number, he held it to his ear, frowning as the call went through. Cid waited.

"Hey, Tifa!" Barret rumbled. "What's up with Cloud?" There was a short pause, then, "Well he just showed up and dropped off Marlene's present, then took off like the fires of hell was after 'im." He didn't want to say anything about the green eyes. After all, they might have just been an overactive imagination. Barret listened a moment, scowling fiercely. "A dream? Huh? Nope, didn't say nuthin. Nope. Yeah, I'll do that. Oh!" he stopped as he saw Cid waving his arms furiously for attention. "Cid, whatta you want?"

"Tell her to ask Reeve if he can get me a few parts for the Highwind."

"I thought you was buyin' from us?!" Barret bellowed angrily, waving his gun arm.

"Not everything is made out of metal for crying out loud! I need electrical stuff too. You know; wires and things?" Cid rounded on Barret.

The big man managed to look sheepish. He shrugged, listened to something Tifa said and grumbled, "She heard you. What do you need?" He didn't look too pleased.

"I need a wiring harness for…" Cid started rattling off technical stuff and Barret's expression rapidly went from sour to irritated to royally pissed off. Finally he shoved the phone into Cid's face and said, "Here! You tell her!" Then he stomped off to take a private peek at Marlene's gift. Behind him, he heard Cid listing off more things he couldn't make heads or tails of, but his face softened the instant he carefully peeled the paper away from the picture Tifa had rolled up scroll fashion and looked at the drawing. He chuckled at the rendering of himself with his gun arm blazing away at the little girl's rather perceptive drawing of Meteor. He knew Marlene didn't think he'd destroyed it all by himself. He'd told her so himself when they returned to Midgar, after he thanked Elmyra for taking care of his daughter.

"Aw, now isn't that cute! And she even got the details right!" Cid chuckled next to him and he swung around ready to punch the pilot for laughing at his daughter's drawing. Cid quickly backpedaled, cell phone held out in front of him as a shield, and Barret stopped his fist only a handful of centimeters from his phone. He grabbed it instead and tucked it away in his back pocket.

"Don't be dissing my daughter's drawing!" he growled at the smaller man. Cid's grin grew even wider and he shook his head.

"I said it was cute and I meant it, so just lower your temper a notch there!" He stopped grinning. "So… what was that about Cloud?"

"Damnit!" Barret rolled up the drawing. It was easier to do such things now that he'd gotten a new improved gun arm, which also turned into a mechanical hand with movable fingers, courtesy of Reeve and some techs he'd found who knew that kind of stuff. Barret clenched his mechanical hand into a fist, after first transferring the drawing to his other hand. "Why do you wanna know?" he growled. "She talked to you more than me!"

"She didn't say much to me, but you were talking about a dream? What's that about?"

"She said he was acting strange after some kinda dream he had a few weeks back. Don't know what kind. None of my business. He's always acted kinda squirrelly if ya ask me!"

"Dream, huh?" Cid lit his cigarette and took a deep drag on it. He blew out the smoke thoughtfully. "Didn't you say something before about the kid dreaming weird stuff before?"

"Naw, that was different! He was sayin all kinds of stuff bout being places and doin things that he never did. That's not what Tifa was talkin 'bout. She said it was a nightmare. Kid woke up yelling somethin." He looked down at his birthday present. He wanted to see Marlene again in the worst way, but he had work to do and it was going to help her and lots of others. But still…

"Think we should go after him?" Cid spoke his own thought out loud, as if he'd read Barret's mind.

Barret frowned unhappily.

"Don't know how we're supposed to do it with that $& bird of his. He's probly halfway to the Gold Saucer by now."

Cid grabbed his cigarette and threw it on the ground, smashing it with his foot as if it was the cause of his frustration. "Of all the damn times for the Highwind to be out of action!" he cursed.

"Don't matter anyway," Barret's dark eyes were hooded. "Cloud always was close bout stuff. He'd probly just wave it off as nuthin. Besides, maybe it is nuthin. D'ja think of that? Tifa's just being a worrier." Barret didn't look like he entirely believed what he was saying, but the pilot figured he was right at least about Cloud keeping it to himself if there was something bothering him. It was the typical adage; you can lead a chocobo to water…

"Well," he clapped Barret's shoulder with one gloved hand. "Leastways, I'll be checking in on Tifa soon when I go pick up the parts. I'll let you know what I find out, all right?"

"Yeah," Barret carefully tucked Marlene's drawing into his vest. He'd tape it to the wall of his tent later. "The little squirt's nuthin but trouble, but I guess we gotta keep an eye on 'im."

Cid searched his pocket for another smoke, found that they were all gone and started cursing. Barret's face broke into a smirk.

"You gotta stop with them, man. They're gonna be the death of ya."

Cid glared at him. Then he found a slightly crushed cigarette in his back pocket and shook it in front of Barret's face triumphantly. "Not if I die of old age first!" he said, clamping the cigarette in his mouth defiantly. With that he turned and headed out of town to where his buggy was parked. Barret stared after him a long moment, then began to laugh uproariously.

Tifa slowly put the phone back in its cradle and stared at the wall, thinking about what Barret had said. It could just be that Cloud was tired from the long trip, which wasn't even finished yet, but she didn't think so. She recalled the night Cloud had awakened from a dream; loud enough to bring her awake also. He'd cried out something about Sephiroth. But Cloud assured her it was only a bad dream and she hadn't wanted to think that there was any significance in the mention of that monster. She was more than willing to believe it was just a nightmare from the old days and had nothing to do with the present. Now she wasn't so sure and the uncertainty started to eat at her. Too many times Cloud kept important things to himself; trying to protect her, she guessed. But it didn't; not really. It just hurt her to think that he couldn't trust her with the truth. And now… what if Cloud was going through another of his spells, or worse, what if Sephiroth actually WAS trying to control him again? Tifa frowned. Abruptly she took off her apron and tossed it under the bar.

"Marlene?" she called to the little girl who was helping her. There weren't many customers right now and she needed to talk to Reeve anyway, so… "Can you watch the place for me? I've got to go see Reeve."

Marlene looked at her with questioning eyes, but she nodded without asking and Tifa smiled at her before heading out the door with the list of parts Cid had ordered clutched in her hand. If Cloud really was being plagued by nightmares or worse - Tifa balled up her fists, crumpling the list - then he should've told her! Why did he insist on keeping things from her? She'd tried so hard to let him know she was there for him whenever he needed someone to lean on or just talk to, and yet he still persisted in keeping secrets from her, as if he was afraid she would lose faith in him if he showed any kind of weakness!

Was that it? Did he really believe that she would lose faith in him or even hate him for being weak? She grimaced, shaking her head at the uncharitable thought. He was the least weak person she knew! Even with his obvious insecurities. Look what he'd gone through. And despite all that he'd survived and kept fighting, even when the odds were so far off the scale against him that it looked like a lost cause to everyone else. Still, she frowned, he had been acting strange when he left for Junon after they had that fight about the photo from Nibelheim. And if the less than observant Barret, let alone Cid, had noticed, it meant that Cloud must look pretty bad. Tifa instinctively reached for her cell phone. Maybe she should call Cloud? She had already pressed the button before she reluctantly turned it off again. He'd probably have it off anyway.

Damn it! Tifa turned up the road toward the theater, her face so angry that two passersby gave her a wide berth, eyeing her dubiously. She didn't notice. When the troopers checked her at the entrance to the Mayor's temporary office, she stood still, arms crossed with the list clutched in her fist and glared at them. They let her pass without a word. One of the bolder men led her to Reeve's office and she nodded a curt thanks to him as he hurried back to his post. Ester, the secretary, took one look at her and just went to open the door, recognizing the 'man trouble' signs. Tifa swept into the tiny office, a dozen questions on the tip of her tongue, but came to a sudden stop when her eyes fell on the mountains of paperwork threatening to cave in their new Mayor's desk. Her mouth fell open. She couldn't even see Reeve!

The former Manager of Urban Development stood up when he saw who it was, surprise written all over his face at the unexpected visit. He smiled and motioned her to take a seat, but Tifa shook her head curtly and remained standing. Again she started to speak and again she stopped. There was a file on the desk with a picture of Cloud's mother, Hana Strife, on it and she wondered what it was doing here. With a puzzled expression, Tifa moved forward to get a closer look at it. Reeve caught his breath when he saw what she was looking at. He'd forgotten to put that thing away! Quickly he closed the file and shifted it beneath a pile of reports as he smiled at the young lady before him.

"Tifa! How nice to see you again," he looked a bit panicked, though he was trying to put on a good face. "What can I do for you?" he asked.

"That was Cloud's mother!" she said, surprise and suspicion on her face. "Why do you have a file on Cloud's mother?"

"Uh, well…" Reeve scratched his head and glanced around the office, which suddenly seemed a bit too small. "I just, you know, was going through the old Nibelheim reports along with a few others," he smiled disarmingly, pointing at the other files scattered across his desk amid the leaning towers of paperwork. She nodded, but her eyes remained doubtful. "So!" Reeve tried again. "What brings you here?"

Tifa handed him the list from Cid and he glanced at it then looked up at her, brows raised.

"What's this?"

"A list of things Cid needs to rebuild the Highwind. He asked me to ask you if you could get them for him. He's coming from North Corel in a few days and hoped they'd be ready for him when he got here."

"Oh?" Reeve rechecked the list, quickly going through a mental inventory to see if they even had the stuff. He thought he could probably get most of the things the pilot wanted. Nodding slowly, he said, "Sure, I guess we can come up with something. Midgar owes him a lot, after all." He sat down carefully behind his desk, checking to see if there was anything else incriminating on it that he didn't want Tifa to see. Luckily there wasn't because she was giving him an accusing look, hands on her hips.

"Is there something else I can do for you?" he asked, hoping fervently that there wasn't.

Tifa stared at him, head cocked slightly. The deep baritone voice was so different from the one she remembered hearing for so long when he played Cait Sith. She thought about his question and wondered what she could say. It wasn't like she could just blurt out that she thought Cloud might be losing his mind again! But she also wondered what Reeve was doing with reports on Cloud's mother and the Nibelheim Incident. Torn between need and curiosity, she did what she normally did; nothing. Smiling sadly, she slowly shook her head. Her long hair brushed her face softly and she reached up to push it away with one hand.

"No… No thanks," she finally managed, her heart choking her. Turning, she walked out of his office and closed the door quietly behind her.

Reeve felt like a heel. He put his head in his hands and sighed. He didn't like hiding things from her like this, but it was in her best interest, whether she knew it or not. He'd just finished reading the reports on Maia Hana Storaife and President Shinra a few minutes ago, and there was more than enough there to confirm his worst, or best depending on how you looked at it, suspicions. The files clearly recorded the birth of Rufus, though not Cloud. Then, on that very same day, special arrangements were made for the Turks to make an unscheduled helicopter trip to Healin Lodge by direct order from President Shinra, taking his private secretary who just happened to be going on an extended paid leave with them. From there Reeve followed a scattered paper trail as she was escorted to Nibelheim and settled there as a widow with a newborn infant that couldn't be hers, since she was never pregnant.

Conveniently the people of Nibelheim wouldn't have known that. The next sixteen years produced a series of annual reports from various Turks who were stationed there. The reports were classified 'President's Eyes Only' and detailed a rather cool reception by the townspeople of Nibelheim, who allowed Maia, or Hana Strife as she was calling herself, to join their community. There were also observations on Cloud's interactions with the village children, notes on his level of schooling, his small stature, and any accidents he caused or was involved in. The Turks continued to keep an eye on Hana even after Cloud left Nibelheim to join the Shinra military in Midgar, which meant that President Shinra was probably making sure she didn't try to blackmail him or mention things she shouldn't; casually or otherwise.

The same year that Cloud left Nibelheim to join the Shinra military, Rufus' mother died of an unknown disease and Rufus became the new Vice President of Shinra Electric Company. Then two years later the incident at Nibelheim changed everything. Reeve glanced at the file he'd hidden beneath Hana's, glad that Tifa had missed it. There were details in it relating to the actions of one General Sephiroth who, after being sent to check on reports of unusual monster activity in the Nibelheim area, went mad for no apparent reason - though Reeve knew better now after having heard Cloud's story – and burned down the village, killing many of its inhabitants, including Hana. Their reports detailed the damage to buildings with the same cold precision that they related the deaths of men, women and children. Reeve's lips twisted down unhappily. They even recorded the actual fight that went on inside the reactor at Mt. Nibel, which suggested at least one of the Turks was on the scene when it happened and hadn't lifted a hand to help. Cloud's story was more complete because it included Zack's experiences as well as his own. Reeve wasn't too sure how Cloud knew what happened between Zack and Sephiroth, but what he'd read only corroborated what Cloud had told everyone, so he had no reason not to believe him.

Sephiroth had injured Zack, badly, then cut Jenova's head from its body and started out of the reactor. That was when Zack ordered Cloud to stop him. There was some confusion as to how he accomplished this feat, but the reports confirmed that the young trooper did indeed stop the General on his own. In the official report, the Turks stated that Cloud actually died in the attempt, impaled on Sephiroth's sword. Reeve didn't know how that could be since Cloud obviously survived to become Hojo's lab specimen for five years and then went on to save the planet with Avalanche after that. The disparity between the report and the facts suggested to Reeve that the scientist might have purposely kept Cloud's survival a secret from President Shinra. On the other hand, Reeve wouldn't put it past the President to have let the false report remain as a cover for Cloud's disappearance, having no further interest in him now that he had Rufus as his heir. The other surviving villagers of Nibelheim were turned into the walking zombies he and the other Avalanche members ran across during their search for Sephiroth, but not Cloud. Nobody, not even Cloud, could explain that.

But what really puzzled Reeve was Rufus' and Cloud's mother, Adella. Where did she come from? How did President Shinra meet her and when were they married? There were no records anywhere. He had looked. There was just her name and the date her son, Rufus, was born. There wasn't even a photograph of her, which seemed rather odd to Reeve. He couldn't remember ever having seen the woman personally either. He was certain the President never brought her to any of the social parties he threw. It was almost as if he had purposely tried to keep her away from all aspects of the business and the people he worked with. Even the Turks didn't seem to have any information about her, and that was more than just unusual, it was downright unprecedented! Reeve shook his head. He had everything that his secretary and the soldiers he'd sent to the Shinra Headquarters basement library could dig out. But there was still so much missing. He sighed, looking at the mountains of paperwork that awaited his perusal. Reluctantly he collected all the files regarding President Shinra, Adella, Rufus, and Cloud and slipped them into the top drawer of his desk. He'd take another look at them again later, when he wasn't so distracted. Maybe something new would present itself then.

Cloud shoved his face into Kisari's neck feathers and let the wind whistle in his ears as she raced down the mountain valley in the general direction of the Gold Saucer. He remembered Barret's surprise when he yanked his arm away and knew he was in for it. Even Cid couldn't have missed the fact that he was a bit frayed around the edges and not from any trip across the ocean. Both men were familiar enough with him to figure out that something was wrong. There was no way they couldn't have noticed. He clenched his jaw, angry at himself for not being able to hide it better.

Kisari ran flat out, aware that her master wanted speed, though not precisely why. She ran until the mountains became hills and then a wide valley. By the time they reached the desert that surrounded the Gold Saucer, she was feeling a bit winded, but she tried valiantly to keep the pace he had set for her. Cloud jerked upright when he felt her sides heaving and guilt knotted his stomach. He tapped her neck and tugged lightly on the reins to slow her down. This wouldn't do! Not only did Tifa know he wasn't doing well, now Barret and Cid did too. What was worse, Tifa would want an explanation when he returned to Midgar. He wasn't looking forward to that! She had a sharp tongue and knew how to use it. But what bothered him most was that he didn't know how to explain this to her. What could he say? Tifa, I think I'm turning into Sephiroth? That would get him a punch in the face or a dirty look, or both. He sighed. His eyes hurt, as though the daylight was stabbing at them and he couldn't seem to keep a rein on his temper lately either. He shouldn't have treated Cid and Barret that way. They were his friends, for heaven's sake!

"I don't know, Kisari," he mumbled. She jerked her head up a bit and he knew she was listening. At least the bird didn't argue with him, too much. He grimaced. But she did have a habit of fussing over him like a mother hen. He guessed that couldn't be helped. They'd been together too long for her not to be able to sense when something was bothering him. Another wave of dizziness washed over him and he swayed slightly. He was so tired! If he didn't get some sleep soon, he was afraid he'd fall off the chocobo in the middle of the desert, shrivel up, and die. He closed his eyes a moment. Just a moment, he told himself.

Abruptly, Cloud grabbed his sword out of the scabbard at his back and whipped it above his head, startling the chocobo. The bat which Hojo had sent to follow him tumbled from the air, sliced cleanly in two. Cloud's lips twisted up in a cruel smile and he snarled quietly, "Interfering little pest."

"Wark?" Kisari turned her head to look at him.

Cloud jerked awake and looked around. He saw the bat out the corner of his eye as it fluttered to the ground and turned the chocobo around for a closer look. There were nodules on its neck and back and he grimaced. Hojo! It had to be. So the scientist hadn't just been an illusion or a bad dream. And apparently he was spying on Cloud. That would explain the feeling of being watched that he'd had since leaving Fort Condor. But how had it died? He down looked at it, puzzled. Then he saw the sword in his hand and his eyes grew wide with fear. No! Please god, no! He carefully re-sheathed the sword, almost afraid that it would move on its own as it had when he tried to kill Aeris.

"Sephiroth?!" he called out loud. "Show yourself!" His head hurt, but otherwise there was no answer; nothing at all. Could he just be imagining it? Maybe lack of sleep and keen senses had reacted subconsciously and he had instinctively struck out at the bat. No! He shook his head, trying to clear his vision. It refused. He needed sleep. But he knew, he KNEW, that Sephiroth was somehow manipulating him, even after death.

"Come on, Kisari," he tapped her on the sides with his heels and leaned forward. She glanced curiously at him but obediently turned and started running again. Cloud aimed her away from the desert, aware that he was taking the longer route, but he also knew that even a gold chocobo couldn't run through the shifting sands that surrounded the Gold Saucer.

All he needed to do was make it to Yuffie's. He would find out what she wanted and then return to Midgar and… what? He couldn't face Tifa or the others like this. He didn't know what he might do, but if his suspicions were right, it wouldn't be something he could live with. Maybe he should head north after all and become a hermit? No, that wasn't an answer either! It was only a temporary hiding place and if Sephiroth did manage to take him over it wouldn't matter where in the whole wide world he went, because once Sephiroth was in control he, Cloud, would cease to exist. It would be better if he died right now than to let that happen!

"Damnit!" He clutched Kisari's feathers suddenly and she squawked. "Sorry," he apologized. He couldn't just quit! A few more days wouldn't make much difference and by then he might have an answer to his problem. Maybe he'd ask Hojo, if he could find him.

Hojo? What was he thinking?!

"This is crazy," he muttered. Kisari chirruped back to him, agreeing, and he had to chuckle. "Okay," he gave in. "I'll wait and see. At least you can watch over me and make sure I don't do something I'll regret later, all right?" Kisari bobbed her head, fluffing her neck feathers at him, but Cloud was too worried to laugh.

"Of all the…! What the hell was that just now?!" Hojo was almost frothing at the mouth he was so angry. How the heck did the Failure know about his bat? He'd had it following him since Fort Condor with no sign the SOLDIER even knew it was there, so what happened? The scientist bounced angrily a few feet above the floor, tentacle arms knocking over test tubes and bottles in his temper tantrum. He'd been working in his lab when the sword appeared from nowhere and cut off his view through the bat's eyes. Now he'd have to send another bat to see what was going on!

"Damn Failure!" he growled as he sent a questing thought through the infected monster population. He quickly found what he wanted. Three bats were sleeping in a tree in a small wood near where Cloud was riding. He nudged one of them, sending it after him. Hojo tried to impress upon its tiny mind that it must follow, but stay out of sight, preferably very high up and further back than the first bat had done. Then he sent the other two to strategic places along the route he thought Cloud was taking. Wait a minute! Hojo frowned. He turned his attention to another area nearer to home. Now when had Scarlet escaped? And where were his two clones? He scoured the laboratory. Nothing! He expanded his awareness, searching through the eyes of the monsters he'd been collecting near the outskirts of Nibelheim. There was no sign of them. Hojo concentrated harder and just on the edge of his vision he noticed a familiar though somewhat tattered red evening dress as it vanished into a small wood south of Nibelheim. Quite a ways south of Nibelheim! He giggled. Scarlet always had been a resourceful person and quite capable of manipulating people to her own ends. She had probably used the two clones the same way, though how she did it had him a bit curious. He shrugged. They weren't worth it anyway. He had something far more interesting in his sights now and it was riding a gold chocobo toward the great river and Cosmo Canyon, if his guess was right.

The red dress Scarlet was wearing caught more than just Hojo's attention. Vincent watched with glowing eyes as she slipped into the trees and disappeared. He turned and gazed back up the valley to where the little town of Nibelheim lay. Something strange was happening there. Monsters with odd growths on their bodies had been traveling across the land in unusual numbers, all headed in the same direction; toward Nibelheim. He didn't particularly like the idea of returning to the place where he had committed his one great sin and lost his humanity for it. In fact, he detested the place more now than when Cloud first freed him from his tomb and gave him the hope of redeeming himself by fighting against the monster Lucrecia had been forced to bear.

Tugging at his pistol to be sure it moved freely, he took a last look at where Scarlet had disappeared, shrugged, and turned north toward Nibelheim.


	12. Chapter 12

159

**Disclaimer**: Final Fantasy VII and all associated characters and symbols are the exclusive property of Square Enix and its associates.

Twelve…

Cloud nodded off for the fourth time and decided he had to stop. The sun had already started to go down and Kisari was stumbling she was so tired. They'd been traveling non-stop since that little episode with the bat and he felt guilty for making her run when it was he who wanted to run; from his own fears. Of course, that was ridiculous. There was no place to hide from himself, not even in the Lifestream. The Voices always chided him when he was there. Cloud glanced around, trying to figure out where they were. There was a shimmer of water ahead and he realized that they must have reached the great river located about halfway between the Gold Saucer and Cosmo Canyon. It would be as good a place as any to stop over for a much needed rest. He tapped Kisari's neck, aiming her toward the river, and her head jerked up eagerly. Cloud bit his lip. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't bothered to stop for lunch or dinner. Kisari must be wondering if he was trying to starve her.

"I'm sorry, girl," he said softly. Her head feathers flared up and she chirruped at him in a reassuring tone. He smiled wistfully. Sometimes he wished Tifa would just accept him like the chocobo did. Things would be so much easier if he didn't have to watch what he said and did around her all the time. He knew Tifa was just concerned for his sake, and it was nice that she cared so much about him, but it made talking awkward because he always felt like he had to censure everything he said or did to ensure she wouldn't misread it or blow everything out of proportion. He shrugged. So what else was new?

A deep overhang near the river's edge caught his eye and he turned for a better look. The place was covered from above and on one side by packed earth and the roots of a large tree, the perfect place for two weary travelers to take shelter for the night. He leaned in that direction and Kisari willingly followed his suggestion, picking her way delicately across the stones and sand. She stopped when she reached the earthen wall and Cloud slid gratefully off of her back, his legs unsteady from the long ride. He was reaching out to unbuckle the saddlebags when a wave of fatigue washed over him. He grabbed at Kisari and hung on, trying to keep from falling as his vision narrowed to a pinpoint of fading light.

"Que… ek?" she sounded startled and turned her head around to look at him.

Cloud couldn't find the energy to reassure her. It felt like the world was spinning wildly out of control and he shut his eyes tight, trying to keep from losing consciousness as pinwheels flashed in the back of his head. His muscles felt heavy and it took a great effort to lift one hand and blindly fumble the pack straps loose while he hung on to Kisari's side with the other. When he heard the saddlebags hit the ground with a muffled thud, he took a deep breath to steady himself and inched along her side, eyes still shut tight. With a shaking hand he pulled the bridle and reins over her head so she could graze. The gold chocobo didn't move a muscle while he was doing this, for which he was grateful, and after taking a few more deep breaths to steady himself he opened his eyes and cautiously let go of her. The world tilted slightly but didn't threaten to disappear and he wiped the cold sweat from his face then slowly bent down on one knee, using his hand for balance, and pulled a small bundle of greens out of the pack for Kisari. He glanced at his own rations. There was barely enough to get by if he kept his meals to a bite or two each day. He shrugged. It didn't matter really. His appetite was gone.

Cloud looked around. By his estimation, they were about two days ride from Cosmo Canyon, which he intended to skirt. Red XIII would probably be upset if he learned that Cloud had passed by without at least a quick visit. Of course, the same might be said for Cait Sith. He knew the robot cat went into automatic programming whenever it wasn't being directed by Reeve, but it had surprised him to learn that the cat really had a personality of its own. Not just a set of programmed responses; but true feelings, memories, and maybe even a soul. So yeah, Cait Sith would probably chew him out as well. But he was afraid. Sephiroth was threatening to consume him and he didn't want to endanger any of his friends if he lost control now. He remembered the bat and shuddered briefly.

Pulling a blanket from the pack, he stumbled to the overhang. It would at least protect him somewhat from roaming night hunters. He pulled out his sword and, wrapping the blanket around his shoulders, sat down with his back against the wall of dirt and roots. The night was cold; the sky a clear cobalt blue. He stared at the stars, holding the sword in his right hand just in case, and let his mind wander. Funny, but as much as Sephiroth tormented him, it was Aeris who came to mind now. There was an emptiness that welled up from deep inside of him whenever he thought of her, like his heart had been gouged out and nothing was left but a gaping wound. He missed her, worse than he would ever admit to anyone. She was the only one who had ever accepted him without reservations. She'd never questioned him, never doubted him like Tifa and the others. He remembered her green eyes, so similar yet so different from Sephiroth's; one minute laughing at him, the next looking deep into his. She had commented once that she wanted to get to know him, Cloud, as if he wasn't standing there right in front of her and he found himself once again wondering what she'd meant by that. But he would never know, because she'd returned to the planet. She was gone, and he remained.

Cloud shifted position to get away from a stone that was grinding into his back and pulled the blanket tighter around him, shivering as the cold from the ground started to seep into his body. Sleep dragged at him like an inexorable weight and he prayed that it would be enough to insure there were no dreams. He glanced around, checking to see that Kisari was comfortable. The chocobo had finished her bundle of greens and wandered off in search of choice tidbits amid the grasses which grew along the riverbank. Reassured, Cloud closed his eyes and fell instantly to sleep.

A lone bat settled silently onto a tree branch nearby and obediently stared at the man and bird, sending images back to its master.

Kisari nibbled halfheartedly at the surrounding grasses after she finished her greens. Then, when Cloud's breathing became soft and rhythmic, she knelt down beside him as she had done during the ship ride and leaned close to keep him warm. He muttered something in his sleep and turned towards her, hands clutching her feathers in a firm but not painful grip. A tear trickled down his cheek and he shuddered briefly.

"Wark?" Kisari dipped her head curiously toward him. She didn't understand what was wrong with her master. Even though she had lived with humans her entire life, there were still some things she couldn't make beak or tail feathers of. It wasn't that she didn't understand what they were saying. She did. And her naturally keen senses allowed her to pick up their stronger emotions too: excitement, happiness, anger, sadness. But what she was picking up from her master lately was different from all of those and it worried her. Extreme agitation and fear overrode most other emotions during the day, yet now she sensed an overwhelming sadness so deep that her avian heart swelled with it and she wanted to cover him protectively with her stubby wings as she would a newborn chick.

Abruptly the feeling from him changed. His breathing sped up and he began to toss his head from side to side. His fingers clutched painfully at her, pulling her feathers. And then his face began to change.

Crystal steps led down, spiraling into a darkness so complete that Cloud was forced to walk slowly to avoid falling over the edge. There were no handrails to grab hold of and even his enhanced vision couldn't pierce the dark more than a few meters ahead of him. A breeze caressed his face, teasing him with a breath of fresh air, and he looked around, searching for the source. Suddenly he realized that he was alone and that seemed wrong somehow. He stopped and the sound of his footsteps echoed through the endless space that lay beneath the Ancients' shell city. When the echoes faded away, he concentrated, listening for any sign that he had company. There was nothing. Cloud couldn't explain to himself why it felt wrong to be alone, so he shrugged and continued downward.

Aeris was below. He could feel her presence in his mind, calling softly to him. A pale light emanated from the bottom of the crystal stairs and Cloud followed it through an archway into a large cavern. There were rock columns and other ornate formations visible in a dappled light that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. He stepped a little further into the chamber and immediately spotted Aeris. She was kneeling on a stone dais in the center of a clear pool of water; her hands held together and her eyes closed as if she was praying, though for what he had no idea. The silence echoed around him, like a breeze as it caresses chimes in a cathedral, and something inside of him responded to it. It felt like he was coming home. He frowned. That couldn't be right. He'd never been to this place before; didn't even know it existed until he felt Aeris' voice calling to him as he slept in the shell house above.

A series of staggered wooden pillars jutted up from the water, leading across to the dais where Aeris knelt and he hopped slowly from one to another, watching her as he approached. The Voices began to whisper frantically to him as he moved toward Aeris. They sounded afraid, almost panicked, and he shook his head. Didn't they understand? He just wanted to ask her what she was doing here and why she had left him alone back at the Temple of the Ancients. He wanted to tell her that he was sorry for hitting her after he gave the Black Materia to Sephiroth. It had been wrong to blame her for his own weakness. And even though she had forgiven him in a dream after Vincent knocked him out to keep him from killing her, it wasn't enough. He needed to tell her person.

Pain suddenly exploded inside his skull and he staggered and nearly fell, grabbing his head as a force more powerful than any magical attack he'd ever endured ripped through him. It took control of his arms and legs, and against his will he felt his hand slowly reach back to draw his sword. The elegant blade shimmered as he brought it around and he stared at it. It was incredibly long and slender. His feet moved him toward Aeris and his hands slowly raised the sword to shoulder height, preparatory to striking down at her defenseless figure. Aeris looked up and smiled at him, as if only just now becoming aware of his presence. He tried to shout a warning, tried to scream at her to run, but his throat constricted and he couldn't say anything. He was going to kill her! HE was going to KILL her!

As if in slow motion, he felt himself drive the sword through her chest. There was no resistance. Aeris stared up at him, the smile still fixed on her face, and Cloud watched as the life slowly faded from her eyes. She slumped onto his sword and he dropped it, fingers numb with shock. No! This couldn't be happening! This wasn't how it happened! He stumbled backwards as the Materia fell from Aeris' ribbon and bounced with small chiming sounds as it dropped from pillar to pillar before it finally hit the water below with a tiny splash. Tears threatened to blur his vision as he stumbled to the water's edge and watched it sink into the depths. Then he saw his reflection in the water and his eyes widened in horror. Silver brows arched slowly over glowing green eyes and the lips turned up in a cruel smile.

"You were going to kill her anyway," his reflection said. Then it started to laugh.

Cloud lunged to his feet, almost hitting Kisari with his head. She jumped back and he went to his knees, breathing heavily. He raised a shaking hand to his face, the dream still imprinted upon his mind's eye. When his fingers felt unfamiliar features he lunged up again, dropping the sword, and staggered to the river's edge. He had to wake up! Dropping to his knees beside the water, he leaned over to scoop it into his face then froze when he saw his reflection. Sephiroth was staring back at him, green eyes wide with horror. His horror!

"Oh god, no…!"

He pulled at his hair, seeing in the water what his hands confirmed. It was long and fine, sweeping in silver cascades over elegant brows, green eyes, and a cruel mouth. Fear surged through him and he frantically splashed cold water into his face.

"No," splash

"No!" splash

"NO!"

"Get out! GET OUT!" he screamed.

Kisari stood uncertainly beside his sword and cast off blanket, watching the human who was and yet wasn't her master as he beat at the ground repeatedly with his fists. He looked wrong, but felt right, and it confused her.

Hojo jumped when the image suddenly flashed into his mind. He'd been concentrating on trying to get one of the infected humans in Midgar to go up into the ruined floors of the Shinra Headquarters to see if anything was left of his lab when Sephiroth suddenly emerged in all his glory from the body of the blonde trooper. The scientist immediately dropped control of the human.

"Yes!" Hojo started to giggle uncontrollably. "Yes, yes, yes!" He rubbed his tentacles together. How ironic! All that work and here it turned out that his first attempt, the cast-off, the Failure, was Sephiroth's choice! Jenova's voice murmured a disjointed approval inside of him and Hojo swelled with pride. He turned and jetted toward his secret lab, but stopped halfway, swiveling slowly as he realized that a battle was taking place between Sephiroth and the trooper. Hojo frowned as he watched the boy splash water onto his face then begin beating his fists repeatedly onto the ground, screaming something Hojo couldn't hear. Whatever the boy was doing, it was succeeding because Sephiroth's features slowly withdrew to be replaced once more by Cloud's.

"No, no, no!" Hojo danced about angrily. "Stupid miserable Failure!" He whirled around and stormed through the passageway, wishing he had legs to stomp with. Instead he could only sputter and fling his tentacles about in frustration. This was unbearable! Absolutely unacceptable! Angrily, he focused his attention on all the infected monsters he'd collected in Nibelheim and commanded them to head south immediately! He wanted Cloud, now! Unharmed if possible, but any way he could get him, as long as the body remained alive for Sephiroth. Damn that Cloud! He had never had this much trouble with any of his other experiments. Of course, he'd never had this kind of success with them either. Perhaps, if he destroyed the boy's mind…? Yes! Anything to bring Sephiroth back to life! He had created a god! He would not see it continually beaten by a nothing little SOLDIER wannabe!

Red XIII glanced up from the body of the missing Cosmo Canyon student and growled low in his throat. These abominable growths, which had begun to show up on a few of the local monsters and had so far evaded his patrols, were beginning to spread. He raised his head, shaking it angrily, and the beads laced into his red mane clicked and jingled softly. He glared across the canyon. He could smell the sickness in the air. It defiled his nose and made him sneeze. He laid his ears back. Then the breeze shifted and a familiar scent reached him. He raised his head. Cloud? It was mixed in with the scent of many beasts, all of which carried the same foul odor of sickness on them. Red XIII leaped over the student's body without thinking and ran toward the scent. Cloud was here! And he was in danger!

Red was almost at the edge of the canyons before he spotted them and his good eye narrowed. There were more than thirty monsters, many not even from this region, and they were churning up so much dust that at first he couldn't make out what they were doing. Then, as he ran closer, Red saw the figures of a human and chocobo fighting in their midst. Cloud's sword suddenly flashed in the sunlight, moving so fast it was little more than a blur and the chocobo was lashing out with beak and claws, trying her best to defend her master. Red XIII raised his muzzle and howled his hunting cry as he sprang forward. Snapping, kicking, and dodging he forced his way meter by hard earned meter toward them. The monsters were packed so thick that they impeded his movement and he growled angrily. It was like a wall of bodies! Their sheer numbers were slowing him down. He spotted a brief opening, as the monsters nearest Cloud fell back from his sword, and Red lunged through it, running as fast as he could toward his friend. One look was enough to make Red's gut clench up. Cloud looked utterly exhausted and even the chocobo's head was hanging low. Red wondered how long the battle had been going on before he came within scenting distance.

Cloud looked up briefly when he heard the familiar battle cry. He spun to slash at a huge Nibel Wolf, cutting it in half, then turned and yelled, "Stay back, Red! They're infected!"

Red XIII stumbled in surprise, then gritted his teeth and continued to work his way toward Cloud. He dodged past a dragon that looked more dead than alive. It was so covered in growths that it seemed impossible it could still move, let alone see enough to attack anything. Cloud shot him a harried look but before he could protest, two Desert Sahagins attacked him from behind and he spun about to face them, hacking desperately. They jumped back and he tried again. "I think Hojo's infected them somehow! Please… take Kisari and get away from here! If they scratch you…" he gritted his teeth and swung the sword around in a circle as a bird flapped its wings over his head, temporarily blinding him. "…you'll be infected just like these monsters!" Two Head Hunters leapt in, scoring his back and arms with razor sharp claws. Cloud staggered, his breathing ragged. He tried to concentrate his energy into a Limit Break attack, but he had no strength left and instead lashed out blindly at them.

"War…rrk!" Kisari objected loudly. She pounced on the locust-shaped Head Hunter nearest Cloud and pecked at its eyes with her sharp beak, kicking the other one in the face with her claws. An angry chocobo was not something any sane monster wanted to face, but these creatures were not sane. Red had never seen them like this before; not even the few infected ones he'd killed. It was almost as if they were possessed by some incredible will that was intent upon taking Cloud down.

"I will not!" Red barked, in full agreement with the chocobo for once. He sailed over the backs of two more Head Hunters, kicking them away with his powerful hind legs, and grabbed a Castanet with his teeth, shaking it until he heard limbs snap. He spat it out and dodged through the legs of a Dual Horn, slashing its belly open as he made his way toward Cloud and Kisari. His lips wrinkled in disgust at both the sour taste in his mouth and the fact that he couldn't do more damage. At last he found the opening he needed and launched himself through the air. He hit the bird that was harrying Cloud, his weight and momentum knocking it to the ground, and savagely ripped its throat open. He spat the blood out then with a defiant toss of his head he took up position beside his human friend.

"Red…" Cloud sounded like he was torn between gratitude and distress.

"Don't say it! I will not leave my friend to fight alone!" he barked with finality.

Cloud groaned, but he had no time to argue as two Bandersnatches lunged over the backs of the Dual Horn in front of him. He whipped up his heavy bladed sword and hacked at them, staggering from the weight and his own weariness. Up close Red could see that Cloud was on the verge of collapsing. His face was set into a deep frown of concentration and sweat was dripping freely into his eyes, matting his hair and blinding him. He swiped at his face briefly in an attempt to clear his vision. An Arc Dragon blew flame at him and he barely brought the sword up in time to deflect the flames. He stumbled as another Arc Dragon slammed into him from the side. Gripping the sword with both hands he tried to swing it around against his new attacker, but his movements were too slow and he missed. The Buster Sword gleamed red in the sunlight and his arms and face were covered in a mixture of his blood and that of the monsters he'd killed.

Out of nowhere, another Nibel wolf sailed through the air and landed on Cloud's back, almost knocking him to the ground. Red XIII howled with rage. He slammed through it with a Sled Fang attack and it vanished in a spray of limbs. Then he slid to a stop, turned and grabbed a two-legged Valamyu that was trying to sneak up on Cloud's right. He tossed it into the air, ripping off one of its legs in the process and was about to finish it off when he thought he heard Cloud's breath catch. He turned quickly and saw, to his surprise and dismay, that a flock of bats had surrounded his friend. He could barely see him through the wall of flapping wings. Cloud tried to bring his sword up to defend himself, but dozens of tiny teeth bit him in the neck and shoulders, arms and legs; each one draining away a small part of what little strength he had left; and slowly his knees buckled and he started to fall.

"Cloud!" Red lunged toward the bats the same instant that Kisari let out an angry screech and ran toward her master. Simultaneously every monster in the area crowded in front of them, forming a barrier between them and Cloud. Someone WAS directing them! There was no other explanation for their unusual behavior and Red XIII wondered if Cloud could be right. Was it Hojo? A dragon bowled Red over with a flick of its tail and blew flames at the chocobo, forcing them both to back off. Red XIII lunged to his feet instantly and tried to find a way around it, snapping frantically even as he realized that the monsters weren't so much trying to kill him and Kisari as to keep them away from Cloud! Rage flared up inside him, filling him until all he could see was red, and he went berserk. Eyes glaring, Red bayed at the sky and charged forward, slamming himself repeatedly like a battering ram into the wall of monsters in front of him. It no longer mattered whether he killed the creatures or how much damage he took himself, only that he reach his goal no matter what!

As Cloud sank to the ground, he felt his senses fading and knew his body had finally succumbed to the poison of the infected beasts. Strength flowed from him like the blood he was losing from multiple wounds. Yet a burning heat was also rising up inside of him; an anger such as he had never felt before; and the power of it overwhelmed him while at the same time it gave him a cold sort of satisfaction. He didn't will it, but his body slowly straightened and he rose to his feet in one fluid motion. Without thought, he raised his left hand into the air and flicked his fingers outward. A sneer pulled at his lips as he gazed at the pitiful creatures that had incurred his wrath. They were hardly worth his attention.

A gale rose around him. It brushed his cheeks and he closed his eyes at the heady feeling as the power of his spell circled him like a lover's embrace. The bats were tossed aside like so much chaff, vanishing into tiny puffs of smoke if they came too close, for this was no ordinary wind spell but one he had created on his own. He called it Storm and it encompassed both the elements of wind and fire. Cloud rotated his wrist in a slow, almost casual gesture and the winds suddenly slashed at the monsters around him, tearing them violently from the ground and tossing them like leaves into the air. He clenched his fingers and they vanished like the bats. The whirlwind expanded, whipping through the others. It hit Red and threw him bodily into the air. Kisari squawked angrily as the gale pushed at her. She spread her stubby wings, claws digging into the ground, and scratched deep furrows as she tried to stay on her feet.

Though startled, Red was quick. He landed on his feet, mane flared out in surprise. He stared at Cloud as the blonde SOLDIER stood calmly in the center of the storm. His face seemed different somehow, his hair lighter and… longer? In horror Red XIII realized who he resembled.

"Pests!" Cloud snarled with Sephiroth's voice. He moved as if to step through the gales that swirled around him, disdainful of the havoc he had wrought. Then abruptly he staggered. Frowning, he glanced down at the many wounds which covered his body and his green eyes flashed with rage. "Damn you, Hojo," he growled, face twisting with fury. He swayed, stumbled forward one more step then abruptly crumpled into a graceful heap on the ground. The winds fell with him, leaving an empty space where the monsters had been blown away or incinerated.

Red looked around in confusion. What had just happened? Cloud looked like Cloud again. Kisari started toward her master the instant the winds stopped, apparently unconcerned by the fact that he had just changed into somebody else. She never made it. An enormous shadow suddenly loomed over Cloud's unconscious form. A giant reptilian bird Red had never seen before slowly settled on top of his friend, clutched his body in its oversized talons, then leaped into the air and sped away northwards. Kisari tried to follow, but the remaining monsters hampered her, milling about aimlessly now that their target was gone. Furious, she let out an angry screech and leaped over them, running across their backs, pecking and kicking all the way. When she finally won free of the impediments, the gold chocobo hit the ground running, neck stretched flat out, and chased after the bird which was already vanishing over the horizon with her master.

Red watched her go, his mind spinning. He had seen Cloud flip out before, but not like this. Never like this! Had Cloud really turned into Sephiroth or had he been deceived? No! He shook his head and snapped automatically as one of the remaining monsters wandered too close. No! He knew what he had seen. As impossible as it seemed, Cloud's eyes definitely turned green and his hair had been silver, not blonde! And that wind spell. He'd never seen Cloud use any wind spell save when he summoned Typoon and this hadn't been anything like a normal summons. He stared after Kisari and indecision gnawed at him. He could still smell Cloud's scent, though it was fading fast. Red XIII looked back toward Cosmo Canyon, then at the milling monsters, and finally in the direction his friend had disappeared. He was torn between two loyalties. But he needed to make a decision now! There were the students, but…

With a cry of dismay, he gathered himself and raced after Kisari and Cloud.

--------------------------------------------

1wngdngl: I totally loved having Cloud say that line! It's so NOT like Cloud that I thought people would get a kick out of it.

Jana-Yggdrasil: Yes, Cloud's turning into Sephiroth! I thought when, during Advent Children, Cloud fell down in front of Zack's sword and his eyes turned catlike that it would be a really cool idea to follow up on. Glad you think so too.

Sinnocently: Great minds, you know. I'd love to hear your story too, so please write it!

Vermillion Dragoness, thanks for the uplifting review you gave me on Chapter 11! It's people like you who make it all worth while. -

And to all who've taken the time to leave a quick (or long o) review, THANKS!! I really need it sometimes, just to reaffirm that someone's really reading my story and not just cruising the titles.


	13. Chapter 13

169

**Disclaimer**: Final Fantasy VII and all associated characters and symbols are the exclusive property of Square Enix and its associates.

Thirteen…

Hojo received his prize with giddy satisfaction. So much trouble! But finally he held the key in his tentacles. He looked Cloud over, clucking at all the wounds his new specimen had acquired while fighting against his pets. Ah well, they'd heal like last time. Cloud shuddered, muttering something in his delirium that Hojo couldn't make out. He was burning with a fever that would've instantly killed any normal human being, but maybe that could be turned to Hojo's advantage. After all, he only needed a mindless body, not a healthy SOLDIER that might drive Sephiroth out again.

"Bring him!" he ordered the Grand Horn that was holding Cloud. Floating a few feet above the floor, the scientist led the way through the Shinra Mansion and down the hidden stairs to his underground lab. The creature shambled obediently after him, Cloud's body held firmly around the waist by one horned hand as it carried him down the creaking steps and through the long corridor. Amazingly, Cloud had managed to keep a death-like grip on his immense sword, which dragged beside the Grand Horn as it walked. The beast stumbled over it and Hojo, pursing his lips in irritation, quickly instructed the monster to remove the sword and lay it on his desk in the library. That wasn't as easy as it sounded, considering a SOLDIER's enhanced strength was probably pretty close to the natural strength of the monster carrying him and there was a bit of a tussle before it managed to pull the blade away. Cloud's empty fingers clenched and unclenched and he stirred briefly before settling once more into the stupor Hojo's infection and the loss of blood had caused.

Hojo quickly led the way through the library and into the examining room. He instructed the creature to lay Cloud on the table then shooed it outside so the oversized beast wouldn't get in his way or knock anything over. He closed the door with a bang and proceeded to strap the SOLDIER to the examining table with extra heavy duty metal restraints, remembering the strength the kid had shown a little over five years ago. When he was sure the SOLDIER was tightly bound, Hojo went to the cabinets to prepare a few test substances. He also grabbed a shock rod and tucked it into his pocket just in case.

Cloud drifted in darkness; alone and cold. There was no gentle green light to welcome him. No voices called out to him, encouraging or otherwise. There was only emptiness. He tried to turn around and realized he couldn't move; couldn't breathe. His lungs felt heavy, as if they were filled with liquid, and the memory made him lash out in sudden panic. No! Not again! He couldn't go through this again! He opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out and he was suddenly falling into the depths of a madness he had hoped never to return to.

HANG IN THERE, KID.

A familiar voice. He clutched at it. Someone he had known long ago, a friend, reached a firm hand down into the pit of his despair, offering him an anchor to reality. He reached for it, grabbing frantically as his mind shattered into thousands of broken thoughts. The hand closed around his arm. It pulled him out and held onto him as he felt everything slipping away. Then there was nothing but silence.

'Damn you, Hojo!' Zack railed helplessly at the sadistic scientist as he held on to Cloud's ebbing spirit. 'Damn you to hell! If I ever get my hands on you, there won't be enough pieces left to make an amoeba! ... Cloud?' He abruptly looked down at the boy in his arms. His grip was slipping. No, Cloud was letting go! 'Cloud, hang in there! I'll get you out of here, I promise. Just don't give up!' But the boy was vanishing slowly before his eyes. All this time he had shared Cloud's mind. All the times he had helped the kid when things got tough. He couldn't let it end this way. He couldn't!

_Cloud_

A gentle voice pierced through Cloud's darkness. It called to him and he felt a yearning toward it that made his heart ache. But there was no strength left in him to answer. The planet was calling and he was tired. So tired…

_It's alright. I'm here._

Soft arms wrapped around him, holding him in a warm, reassuring embrace.

_Mother?_

There was a moment of surprise. Then laughter suddenly bubbled up; a man's voice. Cloud felt himself drifting, but now it was in a warm place full of love and laughter. It felt like home, though he had never known a home like this, and he slowly relaxed into the familiar arms and slept.

Aeris recognized the laughter. It was coming from Cloud, but it wasn't Cloud.

_Zack?_

_Aeris!?_

She smiled. She could see him now.

_Somehow I knew you were here._ Her sweet voice reminded Zack of the flowers she used to sell. _He looked so much like you and yet … not_. She sighed, looking down at the boy in her arms_. I never really got to know the real Cloud, even though I tried to._

Aeris touched Cloud's forehead and he shivered. He had a fever. His body was burning with it, but his spirit remained at rest in her arms. She smiled sadly. So much pain and she could do nothing about it. But maybe Zack could. She turned to him, studying his careworn face. He was the first man she had ever loved and now she had to let him go again.

_Mother_? Cloud whimpered.

Aeris looked down. _Is he calling me Mother_? she asked in surprise.

Zack flashed her one of the rakish grins she remembered so well. But then his face fell. _Yeah well, he never really had much of a mother_. He recalled shared memories of Cloud's childhood. _He didn't know his father_. Zack frowned suddenly. _Funny about that though. The kid reminds me of someone… another blonde_. He shook himself. _Anyway, she fed him, clothed him, said all the things a mother's supposed to say. But I don't think she ever really cared about him, you know? My own folks, boring as they were, spent way more time with me. Course they were always trying to get me to settle down and become a farmer. They were busybodies, but at least they cared. Even for a black sheep like me._ He turned to her. _Why? You don't like the idea of being a mother?_

_I would've liked to have had a child_. She sounded wistful.

Zack cocked an eyebrow at her, but she didn't elaborate.

"Leave me alone," Cloud suddenly muttered, tossing his head from side to side. Aeris looked down at him, concerned. "I can't…"

Aeris turned to look at Zack questioningly. _Who's he talking to?_

Zack shook his head, listening intently.

_Oh, it's the Voices_, he said, trying to figure out what they were saying. Aeris was startled and she frowned.

_Voices?_

_Yeah. The same ones I heard when I died. They talk to him sometimes._

_What?_ Aeris looked around, suddenly aware that there were others, shadowy figures, clustered around them. She sat up, face set in a stubborn expression. _All right, _she demanded out loud. _What's going on?_

The Voices grew silent, but she knew they were there now and she refused to drop the issue.

_Out with it!_ She listened a moment, then looked down at Cloud uncertainly. _He's what? But I thought I was the last…?_

Zack waited, listening to the one sided conversation. He'd never been able to make out what the Voices were saying and he didn't think Cloud could either, at least not very often, but obviously Aeris could and he wondered what was going on, because she looked really angry.

_I didn't need to know?! But Mother told me… Did you lie to her too?_ She paused, listening, and Zack remained very still. Even Cloud was silent, as if he too was listening. _And just how many others are there?!_

"Let's see how this works, shall we?" Hojo suddenly loomed over Cloud, a syringe full of some vile looking yellow stuff held in one tentacle. His eyes glowed with a fiendish light.

Zack jerked out of his trance, fury rising inside of him as he remembered where they were and why. He forgot Aeris' strange conversation with the Voices and turned to shake an invisible fist at the bastard. 'Damn you Hojo! Haven't you done enough to the kid already?!' He started to curse wildly and Cloud murmured as if subconsciously echoing him.

_Zack_, Aeris said sternly. _Please, stay with Cloud a little while longer. He needs you._ And she had a few things she wanted to discuss with the Ancients!

_Aeris_! Zack called after her, indecision printed on his face. Hojo jabbed the needle into Cloud's arm and Zack flinched as the pain slammed into him as well. DAMNIT!! Zack forgot Aeris and focused all his attention on Hojo. He thought of all the murderous things he'd like to do if he ever got his hands around that scientist's scrawny neck!

"Let's see what this does, shall we Sephiroth?" Hojo said, oblivious to the entire conversation that had taken place in front of his very nose. He was a bit miffed that he couldn't see what was going on inside the trooper's head this time. He couldn't even control or influence him like he could the other infected humans and monsters. Of course he knew Cloud would resist the infection. After all, he'd survived the first attack, hadn't he? But still…

"I'm sure you're impatient to have a new body. Just give me some time with this Failure. Hmm, maybe I should stop calling him that though, since he seems to be my only success. Hee hee hee."

'Hojo!' Zack raged, 'Get your slimy tentacles off of him or I'll…'

Cloud gasped as the drug abruptly hit his system, pushing Zack into the background. Shuddering violently, he jerked hard against the restraints, head lashing from side to side. The metal restraints clamped over his wrists, chest and ankles began to strain and stretch as the convulsions increased in intensity. He screamed, eyes fluttering open, and Mako blue shifted to muddy yellow, then cat green and back to blue.

Hojo calmly observed the effects of his new concoction, grinning with anticipation. He frowned however when the table began to rock, despite the fact that it was anchored to the floor. The metal restraints shrieked then finally began to snap and Hojo ducked as first one wrist band then the other bounced off the ceiling and flew past his head. Fear overrode scientific curiosity and he backed away from the table. With a bestial growl, Cloud ripped off the band wrapped across his chest and flung it away. It smashed through one of Hojo's specimen tanks, spraying the room with glass. The scientist grabbed frantically for the shock rod in his lab coat, but it fell from his shaking tentacle and rolled across the floor. Cloud ripped the last shackles from his ankles and rose, crouching like an animal on top of the examination table, his crazed eyes fixed on the scientist as he scurried across the floor to pick up the shock rod. The SOLDIER suddenly launched himself onto the scientist's back and they both went down in a wild tangle of limbs and tentacles.

Hojo squealed, scrabbling wildly for the weapon. Cloud grabbed him by the neck, rolled backwards and threw him bodily across the room. The scientist slammed into the far wall hard enough to see stars for a moment. He shook his head to clear it, sending a panicked call for the monsters outside the lab to come save him, but the door was closed and they battered stupidly against it while he fought for his life. Cloud came around the table, blue eyes glowing like a demon and Hojo tried to back away, shock rod held in front of him. It seemed pitifully weak compared to the human monster he had created, but he jabbed it frantically at the berserk SOLDIER.

Cloud grabbed one flailing tentacle arm and started to rip it off. Hojo shrieked and frantically jabbed the shock rod into the SOLDIER'S body with no effect. He switched it to full power with the tentacle tip and pushed it against the berserk SOLDIER, triggering it over and over as Cloud shifted his attention from the dangling arm to Hojo's face. His fingers were clawing at Hojo's eyes when his muscles suddenly locked up, jerking in time to the electric shocks. The scientist scrambled away, eyes bleeding, and when Cloud went to his knees he hit him with another shock to the side of the head. Cloud slumped to the floor, twitching, his fingers continuing to spasm as he tried to crawl after the scientist who had temporarily forgotten he could float and was trying to drag himself away across the floor.

'Goddamnit!' Zack yelled.

Hojo tried to roll away, but Cloud reached out, grabbed his trunk tentacle and started to haul him back. The scientist flipped over in panic and jabbed the shock rod directly over the SOLDIER's heart, using a maximum continuous burst. Cloud's body seized up and his grip clenched so tightly that Hojo thought he'd be squeezed in two. He squealed and pressed harder on the shock rod button, as if that would make any difference. His eyes were starting to bulge out of his head when Cloud's heart abruptly stopped and he collapsed on top of Hojo.

'Kid, you okay? Cloud!'

Hojo rose shakily, pushing the body off of him. Cloud rolled limply onto his back and Hojo floated over the SOLDIER and poked him cautiously with the shock rod, ready to jump back at the slightest sign of danger. The scientist was breathing hard, surprised by the specimen's ferocity. Then abruptly he started to giggle.

"Well Sephiroth? What do you think?" There was no answer, but Cloud's chest began to rise and fall slowly and Hojo frowned, waiting to see who would appear.

'Hang on, Cloud. Just hang in there! I've got you!' Zack's heart was racing in fear as he breathed for the kid. He couldn't feel Cloud and it scared him. They'd gone through so much together and now that bastard of a scientist was back to his old tricks, messing with the kid's mind and body. 'Cloud!' he searched frantically, racing down the corridors of Cloud's mind, yanking open doors as he tried to find his friend.

"Why don't you take his body?" Hojo shrilled.

For a moment Zack thought he was talking to him and his heart lurched within him. To have a body again! But no! Aeris was gone; waiting for him in the Lifestream and he'd failed Cloud once. He wouldn't do it again. He opened more doors.

"Perhaps it still has a will of its own?" Hojo reached out cautiously toward Cloud with his undamaged tentacle, though he now had two Grand Horns holding the SOLDIER down and a Crown Lance ready in case the boy moved. He flipped open one eye. It was still blue, though glazed and unresponsive. "Hmph! Stubborn as always."

Hojo turned away disdainfully. "Bring him!" he commanded one of the Grand Horns. It obediently picked up the unconscious SOLDIER and it and the other monsters followed closely on the scientist's heels as he led the way back to the library. He backed away to the other side of the desk, just in case, and instructed the creature to throw the boy into one of the tanks. It was marked Project C, Specimen B, Code C and Hojo grinned at the irony. The boy ought to feel right at home.

"I'll give you a little time." Hojo drifted unsteadily toward the passageway which led back up to the Shinra Mansion, his entourage in tow. He needed to do a little patch up job. His body hurt everywhere. Cloud had nearly ripped his arm off, both eyes felt like they were on the verge of falling out, and his lower torso was pretty well crushed from the kid's grip. It would take more than a few donors to replace everything. He called all the infected beasts near the outskirts of Nibelheim. It was a good thing he could float, he thought to himself.

Zack finally located Cloud huddled in a dark closet, in the deepest recesses of his mind. 'Cloud?' He dropped to his knees beside him. The boy looked in a bad way. He reached out then paused as he heard a voice repeating over and over like a litany, "I'm a monster… I'm a monster… I'm a monster…" It was Cloud. The boy suddenly broke down and began to cry quietly and for the first time in his life, and death, Zack could find no words to say. He grabbed Cloud roughly in his arms and held him, feeling the sobs shake his frame. He closed his eyes and hung on, hurting for the boy.

"You're not the monster," he said softly. "You're not!" His chest felt as if it was being squeezed tight, aching for all the things he hadn't done when he should have. "If anything, I'm the monster. I couldn't save anyone, not even you."

The library was quiet after Hojo left; a hollow echo making the place feel like a tomb. Inside the tank, Cloud's features slowly began to twist and reform. The cheeks thinned and lengthened. The eyes slanted up, brows arching, and his lips turned up in disdain. Sephiroth stared in the direction Hojo had disappeared and smirked.

"You always were a monster, Hojo" he said flatly. He glanced down at his body, brought his hands up and flexed them. It felt good to have a body again. He smiled. "Hmm." He looked around the confines of the tank with distaste, remembering a childhood spent in similar prisons after Professor Gast died and left him at the mercies of Hojo and his demented lab technicians. He stood up and ran his hand over the surface of the glass, testing the thickness. He knew that it was probably too thick to break, but one should never assume anything, so he checked anyway. Halfway down one side, his fingers encountered a rough spot and he knelt down and studied the marks. There were symbols carved into the glass; words.

LET'S GET OUT OF HERE.

Sephiroth frowned, elegant silver brows drawn down as he wondered at the meaning. Then he looked up and spotted similar writing on a tank next to his.

FEEDING TIME. THAT'S OUR CHANCE!

Sephiroth ran his hand over the scratches curiously. It felt like they had been made by a fingernail. An image suddenly flashed into his mind. A younger hand, his hand, shaking as it dug an unsteady fingernail into the glass, laboriously scratching each symbol. A familiar and unwelcome green liquid hampered his movements. When he was finished, his inward eye rose to look across to the tank next to his. Sephiroth felt a brief shock as he recognized Zack floating there. He was dressed in the familiar SOLDIER uniform, black hair in its accustomed spikes, unkempt and totally inappropriate for a SOLDIER First Class. He couldn't remember how many times he had warned Zack to tidy up. Zack stared at him. His brown eyes, tinged with the familiar Mako green, glowed softly with concern. He seemed careworn, older somehow. Slowly he nodded, then bent over and quickly scratched out an answer.

FEEDING TIME. THAT'S OUR CHANCE!

Sephiroth's inner eye closed and his body felt strangely weak. Then the images vanished. He stared at his hand a long moment, wondering what had just happened. His eyes traveled down his body and he noticed the familiar SOLDIER uniform he was wearing. He frowned. Reaching out, he tested the tank again, hitting it experimentally with his fist. It didn't budge. He hadn't really expected it to be that easy but it was worth a try. His eyes scanned the interior of the room, glancing off bookshelves, past the door which led out of the library and back into the Mansion, then down at the desk. He was looking for his sword. It wasn't there, of course. But Cloud's was. It looked familiar to him and he inhaled sharply as he recognized Zack's favorite Buster Sword. Perhaps that would come in handy.

With a quiet sigh, Sephiroth settled down on the floor of the narrow tank, drew his knees up and laid his chin on them thoughtfully. A burning sensation caught his attention. Cloud's body, though far stronger than a normal human's, was feverishly hot and it felt like acid was coursing through his veins. He scowled. Probably from that noxious concoction Hojo had pumped into him. A spasm made him grit his teeth and he thought of all the things he would like to do to that incompetent fool if he got his hands on him. Then he closed his eyes and directed his host body to clean out the infection and the poisons Hojo had fed it. It took a long time; too long. Hojo came back and he let Cloud's features return, though he remained in control of the body. He couldn't feel any resistance from Cloud this time and wondered if Hojo had finally killed the kid. Something inside him went hollow at the thought. He frowned at the unfamiliar feeling, tossing it aside. He had no time to worry about a lowly trooper. He had a body and there were things to do.

Even Kisari's sensitive nose couldn't follow Cloud's scent far when it was airborne. She was past the canyons and headed into the mountains however before the scent dissipated to the point where she could no longer follow it.

"Wark… waa…ark!" She stamped her foot angrily, casting about for some trace of her master. That was where Red found her half an hour later when he arrived, panting and out of breath after trying to keep up with her. He'd forgotten how fast racing chocobos could run! He watched as she trotted back and forth, beak high, head and tail feathers flared as she searched futilely for her lost rider, and wondered what he should do. He didn't much like the prospect of facing a furious chocobo.

"Kisari?" he called out to her from a safe distance. The gold chocobo stopped in her tracks and turned to look at him. Red XIII prepared to spring away if she decided to attack him, but instead she trotted over and warbled at him in obvious distress before turning back to look toward the mountains. She stared unhappily at the empty sky and shook her head, loose reins flapping about her neck. Red noticed that the saddlebags strapped around her shoulders were askew as if Cloud had been caught unprepared by such an overwhelming attack. Or maybe the chocobo had knocked them around while defending her master. Either way she had his respect for her loyalty.

Red lowered his head and tried to think. He remembered what Cloud shouted to him during the battle; something about Hojo and the infection. Was it true? Could Hojo still be alive and up to his old tricks? But how was that possible? Cloud had killed Hojo at the Shinra Headquarters Building in Midgar to stop him from firing the Sister Ray cannon and destroying the entire city. He'd seen it. And what did he mean Hojo was 'controlling' the infected monsters? Red growled deep in his throat at the idea of an army of infected monsters spreading Hojo's sickness. It was too horrible to consider. He'd seen what the infection did to humans. They either ran off covered in weird growths or died of fever and madness within hours of being attacked. His heart sank as he remembered the many wounds Cloud had sustained. Would he also go mad and die?

"No!' he barked aloud, refusing to believe it. "Cloud will not die so easily! We must find him!"

"I agree."

Both Red XIII and Kisari jumped. Red spun about, searching for the source even before he recognized the voice.

"Vincent!"

The dark-haired ex-Turk was crouched on an outcrop of rock nearby, staring at the northern mountain range. His red eyes glowed faintly in the light of the setting sun and he seemed deeply troubled by something. "There has been unusual activity in Nibelheim lately," he said without turning. "People and monsters go in and do not reappear. Two days ago I observed monsters of many different species leaving Nibelheim together. They were covered in strange growths. I followed them this far."

Vincent fell silent. He turned glowing eyes on Red and the chocobo.

"What has happened to Cloud?"

Red XIII sat on his haunches, ears flipped back and down in obvious distress. Kisari moved closer, as if listening. "I'm not sure," Red admitted. "When I found him, he was in a battle with more than thirty monsters that had been infected with the strange growths." Vincent waited. "When I tried to help, he ordered me to stay back. He said that the monsters were only after him and Hojo was controlling them. I don't know why, but they did seem interested only in him, even when Kisari and I were attacking them. He was badly wounded, far worse than any of the students from Cosmo Canyon who died." He looked away, feeling helpless and not liking it. "Cloud went down… or started to," he quickly amended. "Then he appeared to… change. He cast a powerful wind spell, without Materia."

Vincent's dark brows furrowed.

Red XIII continued. "Then he yelled something about Hojo and lost consciousness. Before I could reach him, a large bird I have never seen grabbed him and flew in this direction. Kisari and I trailed him this far, but…"

Vincent looked back toward the mountains. "He will be in Nibelheim." He rose, settled his gun firmly into its holster – Red hadn't even seen that it was drawn – and leapt down. "And if Hojo is truly the cause of this 'infection' we must destroy him quickly before he becomes a plague."

Kisari suddenly stepped in front of Vincent, blocking him with her body, and he stopped, startled. He recognized her as Cloud's favorite riding chocobo but didn't understand what she wanted. Red coughed, amused by Vincent's obvious confusion.

"I believe she wants you to ride her," he said, jaws wide in a canine grin.

Vincent looked up at Kisari. She nudged him with her beak, pushing him toward her back, and lowered her wing invitingly. He touched the saddlebags and when she held perfectly still he rearranged them, refitting the straps. Then, with a shrug, he caught up the reins and hopped onto her back. The chocobo tugged at the reins impatiently, but waited for his signal. The ex-Turk turned and looked down at Red.

"Will you ride?" he asked quietly.

Red XIII looked balefully up at the chocobo, remembering the last time he'd had to ride one of the big birds. She tossed her head at him as if to say 'Hurry and make up your mind!'

"It is a long ride to Nibelheim and you will only slow us down." There was an eerie light in Vincent's eyes that Red could've sworn was silent laughter.

"I hate this," he growled. But Vincent was right. Even now Cloud could be dying or worse at the hands of that sick scientist. "Hold her still," he warned. Gathering up his hindquarters, he launched himself onto her broad back, scrabbling frantically at the slippery feathers as he made a grab with his jaws for Vincent's cape. Kisari shifted beneath the uneven weight, but she didn't complain. Red spread all four legs out in an attempt to clutch at her sides and quickly changed his death grip from Vincent's cape to his belt.

"Eth ngo!" he said through clenched jaws. Vincent flicked the reins and the chocobo took off in the direction of Nibelheim, to the place in the tall mountains where the strange man had said her master was.


	14. Chapter 14

202

_Hi folks! I didn't like the way this chapter came out so dry and impersonal so I tried to make it a bit better. Hope you like it. If so, please send me a brief note to let me know, or even if you don't. Okay?_

* * *

Fourteen…

"And how is my specimen doing today?" Hojo had finally fixed his tentacle arm. It took twenty or so monsters and most of the night to re-grow it, as well as to regenerate his damaged eyes and heal the dangling trunk tentacle he used instead of legs. He frowned when he saw Cloud huddled in the tank, eyes closed, apparently unchanged since he had left him the day before. "How irritating!" Hojo summoned two of his more powerful humanoid monsters, a couple of stupid Aps from the Midgar sewers, keyed the tank door open and ordered them to grab the SOLDIER firmly by the arms. He didn't even care if they broke them as long as they kept the man a safe distance from his own precious hide. "Bring him!" he ordered curtly and turned back toward the lab. There were a few other substances he'd thought of while healing himself that might do the trick.

The two Aps reached inside the tank, grabbed one arm each and started to drag Cloud out of the tank. Sephiroth abruptly flexed his arms, using their own grip against them, and slammed their heads together. As they fell in a heap, he sailed over their heads in a flying somersault and landed on top of the desk where Zack's sword lay. Picking it up in one fluid motion, he turned, and with a well practiced swing cut both the shambling creatures in half. The odd weight and balance of the sword threw off his timing a bit and his lips thinned with distaste. It was a clumsy weapon at best. But still, it felt good to be able to move and kill as he wished. He had spent far too long inside the puppet called Cloud, waiting for a chance to take over his body, and now that he had it, he intended to finish what he had started less than a year ago.

Sephiroth jumped lightly down from the desk and glanced at the door where Hojo had disappeared. He shrugged and looked at the heavy sword in his hands with a calculating expression. He hefted it, remembering the only other man who had ever wielded it, then frowned and shook his head angrily. He had no time for emotional drivel! Casting all doubts and memories aside, Sephiroth turned and headed toward the hidden stairway which would lead him out of the mansion.

He had gone no more than a few steps when a strange feeling of disorientation hit him and he staggered. It almost felt as if someone else's hands were taking control of the Buster Sword; skilled hands that knew the blade like an extension of themselves. Sephiroth suddenly spun about, raised the oversized blade and, yelling a battle cry, ran after the retreating scientist.

Hojo didn't need to look back to figure out what happened. He squealed as soon as Cloud began cutting his monsters into pieces and jetted out of the library toward his lab at full speed, calling every monster in the compound to come to his rescue. Cloud ran after him with a murderous look in his greenish-brown eyes and Hojo threw every monster he could into the crazed SOLDIER'S path to slow him down as he ducked through the lab to the secret passage beyond.

Tentacles jittering in panic, Hojo slammed the heavy metal door shut and locked it. Then he backed away, eyes wide as he watched his monsters vanish one after the other in an explosion of blood and bones. With a mounting sense of horror, Hojo watched Cloud grab the examination table, rip it from the floor and throw it at the locked door. He jumped back as the reinforced metal thundered and groaned, then the last of the monsters died, cutting off the scientist's view.

Zack slammed the giant Buster Sword into the door repeatedly until it literally blew apart. Then he launched himself through the jagged opening and pounded down the tunnel after the fleeing scientist, intent on dicing him into so many tiny pieces that there wouldn't be enough left to recognize as animal, vegetable, or mineral.

Cloud had fallen into a catatonic state, lost somewhere Zack could not follow, and he was furious. More monsters appeared, crowding the narrow tunnel, hampering his movements. In a berserk rage he threw Meteorain at them then began hacking and slashing so fast that his sword was no more than a blur. Through the haze of blood and anger, Zack spotted Hojo at the end of the long tunnel, frantically fumbling with something near a rock wall. The scientist glanced back at him, eyes wide with fear, then the wall shifted and he vanished.

Monsters continued to press against Zack, pinning down his sword, and he yelled began ripping chunks of them apart with his gloved hands. He didn't know where they were all coming from, but Hojo was getting away and he couldn't allow it! Claws, teeth, tentacles, and mandibles slashed and bit at him, drawing their own blood as well as his in all the confusion, but the SOLDIER First Class was beyond caring. He owed that scrawny little scientist so many favors that he'd run up a veritable tab of hatred and revenge. First Sephiroth and now Cloud!

Enraged, Zack kicked, elbowed, kneed and bashed with his fists and head at the monsters. They kept coming as if there was an endless supply of them, just like his anger, and he was panting by the time he tore his way through them to the wall where Hojo had disappeared. Immediately Zack started looking for the hidden door he knew the little skunk had slipped through. It wasn't obvious at first, blending in so well with the surrounding rock as it did, but he finally located what looked like a door locking mechanism. As he reached for it however, a wave of dizziness caused him to stumble and he missed the door and almost fell.

The poison from the infected monsters was finally making itself felt.

Zack cursed, but Cloud's body had already survived the infection twice before and though it slowed him down, the effects weren't as debilitating. He kicked at the door, stepped back, raised his sword and began to hack at it with single minded fury; eyes glowing dangerously as he thought of all the things he would do to the sadistic bastard when he got hold of him. He'd cut him into so many tiny pieces, even Jenova wouldn't be able to put him back together again! He'd rip out every greasy strand of hair one by one and then feed him his eyeballs, goddamnit! He'd…

Abruptly Zack went to his knees as the world canted wildly around him. He stared dully at his bloodied hands, unsure what had happened. Then he remembered.

Cloud!

He had to get Cloud out of this hellhole and back to his friends as fast as possible or the boy would die. They could help him. They could…

Sephiroth sat up. He looked curiously at his bloodied gloves and at the sword that lay on the floor beside him. What had just happened? He remembered dispatching the two creatures that pulled him from his cell, the odd balance of Zack's sword in his hands… and Hojo. After that everything went blank, until he woke up to find himself here; wherever here was.

Rising slowly to his feet, he fought muscles that were strangely weak and unsteady, almost as if they were trying to resist him. Grimacing, he realized he'd been infected yet again by that brainless ape's pets. He checked the wounds that covered his body, wondering how he'd acquired them this time even as they began to heal. The process took less time now that he knew which cells to stimulate and the body seemed a bit more resilient as well. He could feel the Jenova cells within him respond automatically to the body's need; repairing damaged muscles and tissues. It was very much like his original body in many ways and Sephiroth wondered why he hadn't noticed it before when he was using Cloud as his puppet to retrieve the Black Materia. There were so many similarities. Hojo was an idiot, but somehow he had managed to succeed in constructing a creature equal to him in many ways. Not a clone exactly. No, Cloud was much more than that, as he had proven when he presented him with the Black Materia, twice, and even unknowingly led him to where Aeris was trying to activate the Holy Materia to defeat him. The boy had managed to beat each of the pieces of Jenova that he threw at him during their chase across the Planet and somehow grown strong enough to defeat even him in the end.

Sephiroth casually wiped his gloved hands on the fur of a dead monster that lay on the floor behind him and glanced up, suddenly aware that there was a mountain of dead beasts filling the tunnel. He raised a curious eyebrow. It would explain the blood on his hands, though not why. He picked up Zack's sword and hefted it, whipping it downwards to shake off the blood. It brought back memories and he smiled.

* * *

"So Seph! Which sword do you think's better?" Zack eyed him with that singularly smug look Sephiroth had always wanted to remove forcibly from his Second-in-Command's face. He knew it irritated the General, which was why he persisted in using the expression as often as possible. Sephiroth looked away, trying not to sound like he was snarling. That would only encourage Zack.

"The Masamune is a refined blade. Yours…" he glanced scornfully at the monstrous sword, "is…"

"Big? Huge? Impressive as all hell?"

"…unbalanced and crude," Sephiroth finished.

"Hey! I'll have you know this little baby has saved my hide more than once against monsters and men alike! She was handed down to me by my uncle on my mom's side. He didn't have any male heirs of his own… so it even qualifies as a family heirloom! What do you think of that?!" Zack grinned at him, brown eyes tinged green by the Mako treatments glowing mischievously.

"You don't want to know what I think, Zack," Sephiroth answered, lips twitching up despite himself. Zack looked appropriately crestfallen, but it lasted only a few short seconds before he returned to his usual hyper, disgustingly cheerful self.

"Let's be off," Sephiroth spoke before the younger SOLDIER could begin to regale him with any more infantile stories. "We have a job to do." He walked away then almost stumbled as Zack began to whistle a children's lullaby.

"What is that?!" he demanded as he covered the misstep and continued toward the troop transport truck.

"You don't want to know!" Zack cheerily flung a mock salute at the General and hurried ahead of him to the truck. Sephiroth scowled ferociously after the SOLDIER First Class and followed at a more sedate pace.

"You're probably right," he muttered.

* * *

Sephiroth frowned, shaking his head in an attempt to deny the memories. That was all in the past now. Zack had died long ago and he had unfinished business at the Northern Crater. Jenova's head awaited him there, where he had been rebuilding his body within the protective shell of the Materia chrysalis while he absorbed the Lifestream in preparation for becoming a god, and though the Black Materia had vanished, he was sure he could locate it again without much trouble.

He concentrated and the sword changed to the more familiar heft and weight of the Masamune. His clothes also changed, settling more comfortably around his tall, lean frame than the shorter SOLDIER uniform had. Slipping the sword into the sheath at his back, he strode away from the littered bodies of the dead. If the entrance to the Shinra Mansion was blocked by monsters behind him, then the pitifully camouflaged rock door just ahead would have to serve as an exit.

Sephiroth whipped out his sword and casually slashed the door in half then kicked away the pieces and stepped through it into a long corridor. The stone walls were lined with what looked to be hundreds of specimen tanks, many encasing deformed travesties of human beings or new monsters that hadn't survived the experimental process. He stopped to glance at a few of them. They brought back uncomfortable memories of some of the things he and Zack had found at the Mt. Nibel reactor. Hojo's mess! Sephiroth turned away from the abominations and lengthened his stride, wanting to be out of this carnival of death as soon as possible. Then something caught his eye and he paused to look more carefully.

At the end of the corridor of stone, in a recessed alcove to his left were four specimen tanks that didn't have monsters in them. These were definitely human and… his brows shot up… they were surprisingly familiar, like looking into a mirror. He moved closer to read the labels; Sephiroth Clones, Project A, specimen A, B, C, and D. Sephiroth sneered at Hojo's total lack of imagination in naming and numbering his experiments. He'd always been sloppy like that. Specimens A and B were missing from their tanks, but from the looks of C and D it appeared that the scientist might actually have managed to successfully clone him; in body at least.

Slowly, Sephiroth placed his hands on the tank labeled C and leaned his forehead against the cool glass, searching for some sign of consciousness within. The Jenova cells in the clone responded to his presence and the boy floating in the tank twitched, moving his head to one side as if listening to something. Long silver hair drifted around elegant features as they curved into a slight frown. Sephiroth stepped back. He could hear Jenova calling to the boy; to him. They shared the same cells after all. But there was no personality, no awareness in the clone, only Jenova's whisperings. Sephiroth frowned, silver brows drawn down over a long slender nose. He didn't need them! He already had a body, and it was more perfect than any of the creatures Hojo had created so far. He saw no reason to even consider using one of these empty shells. Turning away from the clone tanks, he strode to the door at the end of the corridor and walked through. It was time to leave this place and its disturbing memories.

Unnoticed by his greatest creation, Hojo cowered behind a specimen tank further along the corridor, watching. A triumphant expression slowly spread across his face as he realized his plan had actually worked. When Sephiroth was safely out of sight, he began to bounce up and down with barely contained glee. Locating a few bats nearby, he sent them to spy on the silver haired General, reinforcing the need to stay a safe distance away. He didn't know what happened back there in the lab, but it appeared that Sephiroth was in complete control of Cloud's body now. Rubbing his tentacles together ecstatically, he drifted silently in Sephiroth's wake, being careful not to be seen. All he had to do now was follow his new god's progress; maybe even help him along here and there, and ultimate power would be his. Jenova's voice whispered a warning to him, but he ignored it. Everything was fine. His experiment had worked! And this time Hojo was going to join Sephiroth in his godhood. He giggled quietly to himself.

* * *

Red and Vincent arrived in Nibelheim one day after leaving Cosmo Canyon. They had ridden almost non-stop, pausing only to feed the chocobo and themselves and stretch their legs a bit before they were off again. But when they rode into the little town, it immediately became apparent that no one was occupying either the houses or the shops. The place was unnaturally quiet and it made Red's fur stand on end. There were no sounds of people, or even birds and other small animals or insects; only a breathy silence that rang in the red beast's ears, tingling along his spine, warning him of danger.

Vincent slowly dismounted and started to search the empty houses for signs of what might have happened to the residents, while Red slipped off the chocobo's back and shook himself; glad to be free of the bird with its unsettling movement. The ex-Turk was concerned by the lack of bodies. He knew that a veritable herd of infected monsters had been making their way steadily toward this town, probably at Hojo's command if what Red XIII said was correct, and he had no reason to doubt the beast. So where were they? And more important, where were the residents of Nibelheim? Had Hojo infected them also, or had he just killed them? The thought unsettled him for some reason. He had no connection to any of the people who had lived in this tiny mountain town; not the original residents or the Shinra stooges who had taken over after Sephiroth supposedly burned the place to the ground and they rebuilt it to keep face with the public.

Behind him, Red walked through the central square, searching for some sign of people or monsters. Suddenly he lifted his head as a cold breeze blew down on the town from the mountains. He knew this scent! He had found too many bodies of Cosmo Canyon students with this same fetid odor of sickness about them. His lips drew back in a silent snarl, ears flattening along his head as he followed the scent, nose pointing the way to its source.

"They are that way," he growled.

Vincent looked up from his examination of a scuffed up section of earth outside the Inn and followed Red's nose. It was pointed straight toward the Shinra Mansion. He paused, considering for a long moment, then reluctantly headed toward the source of all his nightmares, pulling out his pistol to check that it was fully loaded. That place held nothing but bad memories for him now and he had vowed never to return to it after they destroyed Hojo and Sephiroth. But Hojo was still alive according to Red and if that was where Cloud was, then he would go. He owed the man more than his life; he owed him a form of redemption. He would never forgive himself for his failure to save Lucrecia, but with Cloud and his friends he had at last begun to accept the fact that he could live with his sin.

Red and Kisari followed the dark haired ex-Turk, who had somehow become their leader, and together they pushed past the broken gate, crossed the overgrown pathway to the double doors and entered. The mansion foyer was just as they remembered it and as they picked their way carefully through the broken furniture and scattered crates and boxes left behind by Shinra, Red XIII noticed that Vincent had his gun out, held loosely by his side in preparation for battle. His one eye narrowed as he realized it was a new one and he wondered briefly where the ex-Turk had acquired it. The pistol had a long barrel, no… three barrels! ... and was beautifully crafted, decorated with scrollwork in silver or mythril. Three wolf heads glared at the floor and there was a large pendant with similar wolf heads dangling from it, or maybe it was a dog of some sort? Red couldn't be sure. It had one body with three heads, but whatever it was, the thing looked as dangerous as any monster Red had ever fought against and he wondered why Vincent had chosen it as a symbol for the handgun.

A faint cracking noise made both companions jerk. They searched for the source, but there was nothing; not even the various monsters they had had to fight previously. They moved cautiously forward, Vincent checking the stairs one step at a time before placing his weight on it. The place looked more dilapidated than usual, giving them both the impression that it was about to fall down around their heads at any moment. When they reached the second floor banister, Vincent looked down at Red with an inquiring lift of one brow. Red XIII swung his nose left and then right, before freezing.

"That way," he rumbled softly. Vincent nodded and stepped forward. It was only to be expected, he sighed softly to himself. Hojo's laboratory was this way after all and where else would he take one of his lab specimens?

As Vincent stepped into the small room where the secret entrance to the labs below lay, Red pressed close by his right leg and he could feel Kisari close on their heels. The chocobo had refused to stay outside, intent upon finding her master, and Vincent hadn't had the heart to exclude her. Besides, the gold chocobo could fight. He'd seen her defend Cloud on more than one occasion as they traveled across continents, and he thought it might not be a bad idea to have as much help as possible when going into Hojo's lair, especially if he had an army of monsters at his beck and call. Expecting to be attacked at any moment, he kept his ears and eyes alert as they cautiously descended the rickety wooden spiral staircase that led to Hojo's underground research facility. Strangely, there were still no monsters in evidence, which he thought was strange.

Vincent led the way past the room which had been his prison for so long and headed straight to the library. Opening the door, he came to an abrupt stop, causing Kisari to bump into him.

"Wark?" she queried softly, aware by her companions' silence that this was not the place to make noise.

Vincent's eyes narrowed. The place was a mess, with broken glass everywhere. Two dead Aps lay in pieces across an overturned book shelf, books were scattered across the floor, and one of the specimen tanks had been shattered. There were shards of glass everywhere. His metal shod feet crunched across the glittering pebbles as he crossed to examine the nearest monster. Red wrinkled his nose in disgust at the overpowering stench. He had never been in this place before. Cloud had asked him to stay outside, perhaps afraid that the similarities to his own place of imprisonment in the labs at Midgar would upset him. And it did, Red realized, as his stomach twisted itself in knots. He didn't know what Hojo had done to Cloud in the five years he was held captive, slave to the depraved mind of a man he wouldn't even deign to call human. He only knew what the greasy haired scientist had done to him in the few months after his capture, before Avalanche stumbled across him and rescued him along with the Cetran girl, Aeris. He shuddered as he remembered the gleam in the scientist's eyes as he considered what tests to start on first, sizing him up like a piece of meat that he was trying to decide how to cook. But other than the brand on his shoulder and a few scars, Red had apparently gotten off easy. He remembered the haunted look in Cloud's eyes as he asked him and the others to wait, before entering this place the last time, and felt sick.

"Still fresh."

Red started, pulling free of the depressing thoughts. He looked up as Vincent rose to his full height, looking around the room as if in search of something. There was a darkened hallway with more books on both walls, but his glowing eyes instead locked upon a bookshelf located a few feet back and slightly to one side of the shattered specimen tank. There was a fine line of light shining around one end and he moved forward as if drawn there against his will. The metal door to the lab wasn't latched. He reached out to push it open and suddenly felt a great reluctance to enter the place where Hojo had taken away the last shred of his humanity. But Cloud was somewhere ahead in the hands of that madman. Vincent compressed his lips into a thin line, steeling himself, and walked into the lab.

More destruction met their startled eyes. There were bodies of half a dozen monsters lying scattered about. The examination table had been ripped from its anchors in the concrete floor and apparently thrown at the metal door on the far side of the room. The door jamb was dented and bent out of shape while what remained of the door itself lay broken into pieces on the floor beyond the lab. Vincent walked over and touched the cut marks in the door frame, calculating the strength necessary to perform such a feat. Cloud could probably do it, but the ex-Turk couldn't imagine what would've caused the soft spoken man to do something so violent.

"Wark?" Kisari's head suddenly went up. She smelled Cloud!

Without a second thought, the chocobo pushed past Vincent, dashing through the jagged doorway and into the secret passage beyond. She had trouble scrambling over the dead monsters that filled the passageway, but she was determined and finally managed to force her way over the many impediments. When she wriggled free of the last body, the gold chocobo raced through the remnants of the camouflaged door at the end and vanished before either Vincent or Red had a chance to react.

"Kisari!" Red barked. With a growl, he leaped over the bodies, running lightly across them in pursuit of the chocobo.

Vincent spared a glance at this further evidence of Cloud's berserk fury before he followed cautiously after the two. Something had happened here that he couldn't explain and he was worried for Cloud's sake. Hojo was a monster in the guise of a human being. He always had been, but it had taken Lucrecia's death for Vincent to finally acknowledge it. He had helped Cloud kill Hojo in all his Jenova induced forms and thought his revenge was complete. But according to Red, the scientist was still alive and trying to use Cloud once more. Of course, all that that narrow minded man was able to think of was bringing back his beloved god of destruction, Sephiroth. The idea made Vincent grow cold inside. He didn't know how Cloud fit into the scientist's plans, but he knew it couldn't be allowed. The man was a monster! Vincent's eyes began to glow like the fires of hell as he thought of what it would mean for his young friend to once more be at the mercy of the creature that called itself Hojo.

He hated Hojo for destroying the person most precious to him and would never forgive himself for allowing her to die, even though Lucrecia had insisted that she volunteered for the experiment of her own free will. How much worse could it have been for Cloud?

Vincent leapt over the bodies of the dead monsters, cape flying behind him like the red wings of Chaos.

To be used against his will by Sephiroth and Jenova, to raise his own sword against one he obviously cared for as much as Vincent had cared for Lucrecia, Cloud had endured far more at the hands of that madman than Vincent could ever have imagined in his worst nightmares and though the young SOLDIER'S body didn't show it like his own clawed hand, Vincent had seen the wounds in his friend's haunted features when Cloud thought no one was looking. Vincent clenched his fist, metal claws scraping against each other, and moved faster, almost flying down the hall past the tanks of misshapen humans and half formed monsters. He didn't even notice the two clones tucked away in their special alcove. A white hot fury was beginning to spread through his body, warning of The Change, and this time he welcomed it.

* * *

Sephiroth paused and looked around at the familiar surroundings. He nearly laughed out loud at the irony. The secret passageway - which led through a veritable warren of examination rooms, laboratories, and some kind of arena - had finally brought him back to the beginning of everything; the Mt. Nibel reactor. He stared at it, remembering. Up those steps lay the horror. Mako pods meant to create Materia creating monsters instead, broken travesties of what had once been humans. It was here that he at last found his mother, Jenova. And it was here that Zack and that trooper tried to kill him.

Sephiroth scowled as another wave of disorientation hit him. He grabbed his head with one hand and stumbled, cursing. Once more his vision shifted as if he was seeing through another's eyes. He was inside the reactor once more, staring up past the Mako pods at… himself?! The Sephiroth he saw was limping, bleeding heavily from a wound the trooper had inflicted with Zack's sword when he caught him off guard. Jenova's head dangled from one hand, the Masamune from the other. He frowned.

"Cloud!" Zack's voice called out hoarsely. Sephiroth looked up. His old friend was lying broken and bleeding on top of one of the Mako pod tanks where he'd been thrown when the General defeated him. He'd never had a chance, Sephiroth realized as he stared at the SOLDIER First Class. Zack had never wanted to hurt him. To the very last he had tried to appeal to his common sense and their friendship; anything to make him stop in his insanity. It had fallen on deaf ears.

"Cloud! You've got to stop him!"

Sephiroth found himself nodding. He turned away from Tifa's unconscious body and went to pick up Zack's sword.

Cloud? These were Cloud's memories?

His hands clutched Zack's huge sword and, lifting the heavy blade with difficulty, he yelled a battle cry and ran after the wounded Sephiroth. But the Buster Sword was too heavy. It dragged at his arms, slowing him down. He tried to swing it like he'd seen Zack do, but even injured Sephiroth was too fast for him. He had been lucky the first time. There would be no second chances.

"Don't… push… your luck," Sephiroth growled. Turning, he thrust the Masamune toward him as he lunged forward.

The impossibly long sword sliced into his chest, scraping across his ribcage and ripping out through his shoulder blades, and he dropped Zack's sword as molten fire spread through his body. He felt himself lifted off the ground and stars exploded in his head as his weight pulled him down against the sharp metal. It seemed like his heart would burst from the pressure. He wanted to scream, but couldn't even breathe. The backs of his eyes flashed with pinwheels of light and darkness and he felt himself spiraling into an endless void. He couldn't feel his arms or legs anymore. He couldn't move. He was dying, and the man who stood before him, who had destroyed his home, his family, his friends, and even Zack, was going to get away!

The familiar sensation of helplessness and self loathing wrapped itself around him. Zack had trusted him to stop Sephiroth, but he couldn't even do that. He was a failure, a weakling who couldn't protect anyone. The children and townsfolk had been right all along. He was just a useless runt who brought misfortune to everything he touched and everyone he loved. He raised his heavy head and stared down the endless length of the Masamune at the man he'd idolized for so long; hoping to be like him because he was strong, admired, and sure of himself, everything he wasn't. Then he saw the madness in the General's eyes and something stirred inside of him. He was suddenly consumed by a sense of betrayal as hot as the blood which ran from his chest, nose and mouth. This man had destroyed everything; his town, his mother, Tifa and even Zack; the only person who had ever bothered to make friends with an undersized outcast from a backwoods mountain village who wanted to make something of himself despite the jeers from his teachers, the other cadets and even the troopers he was forced to join when he failed the SOLDIER program. His eyes blazed suddenly, hot with tears he refused to cry and anger at what had been taken from him.

"I trusted you!" he yelled into the face of the man he had once admired. "I believed in you!"

His mind screamed, crying out in a pain far worse than the physical agony of his body. It tore at the very core of his being, ripping out his heart and soul with it until there was nothing left except hatred. Slowly, painfully, he reached out and wrapped his hands around the sword which impaled him. With a determination he didn't even know he had, he began to pull his body toward the General, ignoring the ripping sensation as the Masamune sheared flesh and bone, driving deeper through his torso and out his back. He didn't even care that the blade was close to his heart. His heart was already dead. How could it be destroyed any further? He ignored the blinding pain, the roaring in his head and the fire in his chest as he continued to pull, gripping the top of the sword so his fingers wouldn't be sliced off before he could finish what he'd started. He didn't know what he was doing, only that he had to complete the last task he'd been given. Zack had told him to stop Sephiroth and he would. He would!

Sephiroth scowled as the change in weight forced him to lower his sword. He tried to yank it free, but the trooper held the blade captive with his own body, hands bleeding from the tight grip he kept on the razor sharp sword.

He could feel his flesh ripping and tearing as the angle of the Masamune shifted inside him. Then it happened. His feet touched the floor and with all his might he clutched the sword and started to shake it from side to side, causing the General to stumble off balance.

"I looked up to you!" A white hot rage encompassed him, giving him strength his failing body could not. The encroaching darkness swelled and receded, but he ignored it, intent upon one thing only.

Sephiroth stared at him, green eyes narrowed in confusion.

"What are you?" he demanded.

"I will never forgive you!" Gathering up all his remaining strength, he wrenched the blade up, lifting Sephiroth off the ground and jerked sideways, throwing him bodily over the catwalk. The man hit the far wall of the reactor, coat flying around him like broken black wings, Jenova's head still clutched in his right hand then he fell into the green pool of Mako far below. Only then did the pain return. It burned, eating its way like acid through every cell of his body, driving him to his knees. Dully he gazed over the catwalk at where Sephiroth had vanished, hands still wrapped tightly around the Masamune as darkness narrowed his vision to small pinpoints. All his life he'd wanted to be this man and now… there was nothing left to live for.

"Sephiroth…" he whispered raggedly. _Why?_ Then the world tilted and everything went black.

* * *

CLOUD

Voices whispered to him, calling his name. They encouraged him, reassuring him that he had done right. They seemed familiar somehow and as he floated amid strands of green light, wondering who or what they were, they gently wrapped themselves around him, lifting his fading spirit from the darkness.

Sephiroth frowned. This wasn't right! The Voices had never encouraged him. In fact, they'd screamed at him when he entered the Lifestream in search of the knowledge of the Ancients.

He opened his eyes.

"So you're alive!" Hojo's ugly face hovered over him. "Ha ha ha! I put more Jenova cells and Mako in you than that irritating SOLDIER First Class could ever tolerate. Amazing! Perhaps using a freshly dead body is the key to creating a successful Sephiroth clone, hmm?"

Fear… Darkness… and then

* * *

"Hee hee hee!"

Sephiroth stirred, wondering where he was. He felt a cold, hard surface beneath him. He was lying on some kind of table with straps pinning down his arms, wrists, chest and legs, so tightly that it was threatening to stop circulation. A familiar burning sensation ran through his veins. Mako! A lot of it, if his own experiences were any judge.

"Do you know what he did?" Hojo sounded pleased with himself. "He ripped up the examination table and killed two of my assistants with his bare hands!" Hojo reached down and patted his shoulder possessively.

Sephiroth jerked and screamed like a wounded animal, eyes opening wide as he strained against the shackles that bound him to the gurney. Fear and hatred struggled inside him for dominance. He couldn't think anymore. All he knew was a berserk rage that roared inside his head, screaming for blood; Hojo's blood. The restraints started to snap and Hojo grabbed a shock rod, jabbing it into his chest until he shuddered beneath the electrical onslaught. Yanking against the shackles frantically, he growled as blood ran from his wrists, arms, nose and mouth. Then one shackle snapped with a loud clang, flew across the room and rattled off the wall. He rolled around on the gurney, knocking it over, and tried to crawl across the floor toward Hojo, dragging it behind him.

"Hojo! What the hell are you doing?!" Zack's voice snarled nearby. "Leave the kid alone, goddamnit!"

The scientist calmly grabbed a gun from one of the security guards and shot repeatedly into his chest until his vision fragmented and went black.

Sephiroth stumbled, grabbing his chest. He'd never been shot before, but it felt very real to him at the moment. He knew he was somehow sharing Cloud's memories, just as he had before, but this time they flooded through him and he couldn't stop them. He went to his knees, gritting his teeth, and tried to force the visions away.

* * *

"…then I pulled out my sword and cross-slashed, killing the monster," Zack's voice, regaling him with stories of his adventures. "Course Seph only had to blink and most monsters would run. He…"

Sephiroth smiled at the image of Zack; so familiar to him, going on and on about his adventures while bar drunks and ignorant townspeople stared at him in awed fascination. But as Cloud, he felt physical pain assault him at mention of his name. He grabbed his head, shaking it from side to side in a futile attempt to make it go away.

Sorry man." Zack changed tack in mid-sentence. "Did I ever tell you about my girlfriend?"

* * *

"So, you got a girlfriend?" Zack sat leaning against the wall of the tank, one arm across his drawn up knee. He looked unhealthy, his usually tanned skin grown pale from long days or even months out of the sun.

Sephiroth was curled up despondently on the floor of his own tank. Every muscle in his body ached abominably and he couldn't seem to think straight.

"Tifa…" his lips formed the name haltingly, but he didn't know what it meant.

"Tifa, huh? Cute name. Say, that sounds familiar! Not that girl guide? That would explain a few things." Zack shifted position, cursing the hard floor. "Might as well be concrete made of ice! I'm getting cramps! So, is that why you put your trooper helmet on? You shy or something?"

Go away! Sephiroth tried to command the flood of memories to stop. He couldn't feel his body anymore. He didn't even know if he was on his feet or on his knees.

* * *

Bright light! It hurt his eyes. Needles stabbed his arms, legs, and neck. Scalpel slices as fine as paper cuts opened his body in millions of tiny avenues of blood and pain. Fire and ice alternately raged through his veins as what was left of his own blood mingled with the huge amount of Mako Hojo had replaced it with. He wanted to scream, but no longer had a voice to scream with. They'd taken it away with his memories. Everything had become surreal, except Zack, who kept talking to him, reminding him that there was something other than his own little world of pain and fear. He heard the SOLDIER'S voice as if from far away, trying to draw him back, but it didn't matter anymore. He just wanted to let go, find solace in the emptiness of death where the pain couldn't follow him. Somewhere, his mind whimpered; broken and blasted. The Voices called to him, but he could no longer make out what they said and he had no strength left to care.

"I'm sorry, Cloud." Zack's green-tinged brown eyes pleaded for forgiveness as he stared through the tank at him, pale face pressed against the glass. He slammed his fists against the wall of his prison in frustration then shook his head slowly from side to side. "You wouldn't be in this mess if it hadn't been for my weakness. I should have taken care of Seph. It was my responsibility, not yours."

His sight was slowly fading, covered by a clinging film that obscured his vision. He couldn't see Zack clearly. His limbs felt heavy, so heavy. He closed his eyes and felt himself slipping away.

"Cloud? Cloud! Don't give up on me, kid. I swear I'll get you out of here if it kills me! Just don't give up, okay?"

* * *

"What a failure. And I had such high hopes too."

Hojo's voice.

Something lifted him up and he felt his body being dumped into the cold glass tank, his home for he didn't know how long. He no longer cared. His body was sluggish and he couldn't catch himself. His head hit the wall of the tank with a dull thud and he slumped to the floor. He turned his head slowly. His body hurt everywhere. He couldn't even focus on the scientist as he talked.

"But at least my other Sephiroth clones are beginning to respond. Perhaps one of them will serve my purposes."

"Sephiroth clones? Seph is dead! Why don't you just leave him alone!"

Zack. That was Zack. He knew the name and the voice, but didn't know how he knew it or what it meant.

"Oh, no. On the contrary, Mr. SOLDIER First Class. Sephiroth is alive and well… somewhere. The clones can sense him. One day he will become a god and rule this world!" Hojo broke into a fit of giggling and Zack pounded the inside of his tank as it began to fill with Mako.

He felt the thick liquid begin to rise around him and his eyes flew wide with fear. He tried to lunge to his feet, but his legs gave way beneath him. He tried to hold his head above the rising fluid as it passed his waist then his chest and shoulders. No, please! Not again! He couldn't… It covered his head, filling his nostrils and stinging his eyes. He opened his mouth to scream and the fluid gushed into his mouth, flooding his lungs, suffocating him.

* * *

Sephiroth's throat constricted as he abruptly surfaced from the powerful images. He gasped, his body remembering the awful liquid that had imprisoned him so many times. Cloud's panic faded as he forced the disjointed thoughts into some semblance of order. Slowly, he reached up and touched his chest where he'd felt the Masamune pierce him. He remembered now. After he impaled the trooper and tried to withdraw his sword, the boy had shown uncommon strength and his eyes… they had begun to glow as if he was a SOLDIER, but he hadn't gone through the treatments for being a SOLDIER.

Then he remembered the Voices that had called to Cloud when he died; the voices of the Ancients. They had screamed at him, Sephiroth, when he was in the Lifestream collecting their wisdom and power. But they had called Cloud by name, speaking words of encouragement and comfort _as if they knew him_! And it was the Lifestream itself that wrapped around him when he was Cloud. Could Cloud be an Ancient? No! It was utterly ridiculous to even consider the idea. He had killed the last Ancient. What was her name? Aeris. But then, how else could the Voices be explained? And why would they bother to speak to a lowly boy of no particular talent?

He recalled the images of Zack trapped inside the tank and couldn't help but think about what his actions had done to his old friend. He thought he'd been put through hell while Hojo and his lab techs took samples of blood and cells, bone and tissue from him, subjecting him to an endless battery of tests as they tried to figure out his abilities, but what he'd just experienced as Cloud was far worse. No matter how cruel Hojo had been when he was a child, he had never shot Sephiroth with a gun or replaced half of his blood with Mako. He remembered feeling alone, abandoned. He'd once dreamed of what his mother was like. Hojo told him her name was Jenova, and why should he have doubted it? He'd never known her or his father. And yet he had killed Cloud's mother right in front of the trooper without even caring if the kid had a father. He hadn't seen one or bothered to find out if he had one. Why should he? His pain was more than any mere trooper, or even a SOLDIER First Class, wasn't it? At least he'd thought so back then. Now, he wasn't so sure.

He'd even told Cloud that he had no hometown, though that was no longer entirely true either. He had been born and raised for the first five years of his life in Nibelheim. Professor Gast and Hojo's notes in the old Shinra Mansion had told him that much. He and Cloud shared even that.

Cloud, why does it always come back to you? Sephiroth thought to himself. Who are you? WHAT are you? He had no an answer to that and it was beginning to bother him.

'Wark warrrk!"

Sephiroth looked up to see an unpleasant wall of gold feathers headed his way. He rose quickly to his feet, bringing up the Masamune.

Kisari saw her master in his strange form and shot out of the tunnel toward him, warbling in relief. He rose with a sword she hadn't seen before in his hands, but she ignored it and charged up to him, pushing her beak against his chest in a demand for attention, pecking at his hair and clothes. He batted at her playfully and she tugged at a long strand of the silvery hair, relieved that he was alright.

Sephiroth stepped back, trying to push the beast away from him, but it just took that as some sort of invitation to continue pulling at his hair. He slapped at it, confused by the bird's actions. The walking carpet of feathers ignored his attempts to fend it off, crowding closer to him and pushing him off balance again. He set his feet firmly and shoved.

"Stupid bird!" He growled, suddenly raising his sword to slice the thing in half. A gunshot rang out, echoing through the mountains, and bullets pinged against his sword, almost knocking it out of his hands. He looked over the bird's back and saw a man and a great red cat-like beast running toward him.

"Wark!" the chocobo crowded against him. It was impeding his sword arm, but also putting itself between him and the rapidly approaching enemies. It actually seemed to be trying to protect him! Sephiroth stepped back and raised his sword again, fully intending to kill the creature while he had the chance. But before he could finish the stroke, something surged up inside of him, an awareness where there had been none before. It rose, filling him with anxiety, and his vision suddenly blurred.

"Kisari, no!" Cloud's voice issued from his mouth. "Stay back!"

Sephiroth gritted his teeth and swung angrily at the bird, but his arms suddenly clenched up and he missed. He stumbled, grabbing his head. "Go away!" he growled, dropping to one knee. The sword fell from his hand and he tried to pick it up, but his hands wouldn't work right. "GO AWAY!"

Sephiroth's eyes shifted from emerald green to glowing sapphire blue. He looked up slowly, almost sluggishly, as if he wasn't sure of his ability to move, and the look in his eyes was desperate as he saw his friends rushing toward him. Silver hair hung over his face, obscuring his vision. He tossed it aside with an unsteady shake of his head, clutching at the ground with gloved hands as if it might fall out from beneath him at any moment.

"Hurry!" Cloud pleaded, trying to focus on the red cloaked figure of Vincent as it drew nearer. "Kill me now!" He grimaced as Sephiroth clawed at his mind. "I can't hold him much longer."

Vincent froze, his transformation stopped, and Red almost plowed into him in astonishment. They looked at each other, unsure what to do. Red had seen Cloud do something like this at Cosmo Canyon, but not in Sephiroth's body. What was going on? But the Kisari had no doubts. She searched her master frantically for whatever was hurting him, sensing his pain and wanting to help as she had done before. Cloud abruptly grabbed his head and squeezed his eyes shut, his back arching, every muscle strained to the breaking point as the battle for his body raged inside of him. He couldn't let his friends be hurt again on his account. He couldn't!

"Please!" he cried out, his voice weakening. "I can't…"

He suddenly collapsed, silver hair spilling over his shoulders and onto the ground around him. Then slowly the hair grew shorter, turning a familiar blonde. The features smoothed and the body, though still clothed in Sephiroth's coat and pants, became that of Cloud Strife, SOLDIER First Class.

Vincent stared in silence at his friend. He had been dead set on killing Sephiroth, furious over what he perceived had been done to Cloud, but now he was just bewildered. He stared at Cloud in Sephiroth's clothes, Kisari warbling anxiously by his side and wondered what to do. He looked at Red, who lowered his head and moved forward cautiously to sniff at the body.

"It is Cloud," the beast confirmed slowly, as confused as he was.

"No, no, no! Miserable, MISERABLE FAILURE! Not again!"

Hojo's unwelcome voice broke the stillness and they jerked around, breaking out of their trancelike state. The scientist was standing at the exit of his underground compound, glaring wildly at Cloud and shaking his tentacles in frustration. Once again the stupid SOLDIER had beaten down HIS Sephiroth and he was livid! His eyes looked like they were bulging out of their sockets as he hissed and bubbled epithets. Suddenly bats, dragons, Dual Horns, Crown Lances, Nibel Wolves and Bandersnatches appeared from the cliffs and path around the reactor, converging on the two friends and the chocobo as if they had been waiting just out of sight for the signal to attack.

Vincent's eyes narrowed as he stared at the crazed scientist across the backs of the monsters charging toward them and he moved up beside Red, flicking the gun magazine open to empty the spent rounds. He quickly reloaded and snapped it shut again, gauging the distance between him and his targets. He didn't fully comprehend what was happening, but he had seen Sephiroth turn into Cloud and Hojo was the most likely perpetrator. His eyes began to glow dangerously.

A jellyfish-like Crown Lance drifted over the bellowing monsters as they collided with each other in their haste to reach the interlopers. It slowly lowered itself over Cloud's unconscious form, wrapping its tentacles carefully around the human so as not to damage it. Its master wanted this one. The others would be left for food.

Vincent's eyes narrowed as he felt more than saw the movement behind him and he spun about and shot before he'd even taken aim. Three bullets flew from the muzzle of the Cerberus gun directly into the Crown Lance, then three more, but the monster ignored the damage. With Cloud firmly wrapped in its tentacles, it rose into the air and started toward the reactor where the master waited. Vincent pulled up the gun muzzle, realizing that Cloud was now in danger if the bullets went astray. He leapt forward, cape flying behind him as he tried to intercept the monster. Behind him, Red XIII howled his battle cry, but Vincent didn't take time to turn around and look, intent upon freeing Cloud before the scientist could get his hands on him once more.

A green dragon slammed its tail in front of him and he instantly changed direction, dodging it. Without thinking, he turned the pistol on the beast and blew out its brains. Three Nibel Wolves lunged at him over the back of a Dual Horn and he fired so rapidly that the shots sounded as one, knocking them back into the mammoth-like creature and tangling up its legs. The Dual Horn went down with a crash that shook the earth, but by then the Crown Lance had carried Cloud over the backs of the monsters to where Hojo waited at the top of the steps outside the reactor, hovering on his twisted body. He grabbed Cloud, crazed eyes glittering, and dragged him inside.

With a sudden roar, unbridled rage burst from Vincent's chest like a broken dam. It spread through his body, a surge of super-human strength, and wings ripped violently from his shoulders as he took to the air. Then all he saw was a red haze. Chaos whipped its wings and the monsters nearby vanished into puffs of smoke. How many times had Chaos materialized in defense of these people? How many times had he watched in confusion as Cloud and the others protected him, a monster, from attacks when he was injured during their many battles? The summons creature didn't know why he cared; only that he did. And it was not being influenced by its host this time. He roared, glaring at the sea of monsters, and sent a hail of flaming skulls raining down on them, turning several of them into instant funeral pyres. But there were more than even Chaos could defeat and as he glanced at the reactor, he knew he would be too late to help Cloud.

Red looked at his companion, recognizing Vincent's ultimate form. He knew his friend was beyond reasoning now and looked quickly around for Cloud and Kisari. The monsters impeded his vision, growling and shrieking until he was nearly deafened by the noise. He sprang into the air, biting and kicking as he searched. Then he thought he heard the sound of Kisari squawking angrily somewhere to his right and glanced quickly in that direction. She was standing near the steps leading to the reactor, pecking wildly at a Crown Lance, and beyond her he could see Hojo dragging Cloud up the steps. Red XIII howled. His single eye narrowing in fury as the amber iris began to swirl. He leapt over the backs of two Bandersnatches, using them to launch himself onto a Dual Horn and without stopping he ripped at the beast's shoulder and neck as he ran toward the reactor. Confused, the monsters milled about, searching for their vanished foe and he used the distraction to jump to the next Dual Horn, racing across the great furred back toward his goal. Quickly he hopped down and ran toward the Crown Lance and Hojo, even as he saw the scientist vanish into the depths of the reactor with his victim.

When he finally caught up to Kisari, he was met by a barrage of snapping stingers as the Crown Lance tried to block their path. Red had had enough! He slammed into the beast, taking damage he didn't even feel, and the floating jellyfish splattered the steps it had been trying to defend. Behind them Chaos roared, slashing three monsters to ribbons. Several more fell back as a shockwave of death rolled across them.

Hojo didn't bother to glance back. He was furious! How could Cloud keep interfering with his masterpiece? What WAS he? The scientist dragged the blonde SOLDIER'S unconscious body up the steps, past the Mako pods and into the chamber where he had kept Jenova. The container was broken. Jenova's head and body were gone. Sephiroth had taken the first and he had taken the latter when he tried to grow it in Midgar. But there were still pieces in the bottom of the growth tank that hadn't been worth his attention at the time. Now they seemed perfect.

Hojo dropped Cloud and went to the tank. He grabbed a chunk of rotting flesh and, prying Cloud's mouth open, shoved it inside. Then he closed the SOLDIER'S mouth and plugged his nose in an effort to force Cloud to swallow it. Cloud's body bucked and jerked as his lungs fought for air, but Hojo just held on tighter, wrapping his whole body around the boy's head until he felt the throat muscles flex. As Cloud swallowed, Hojo broke into a fit of cackling and yelled, "Die! Die! Ha ha ha! Sephiroth can take your dead body!"

Cloud shuddered, eyelids fluttering wildly as the noxious lump of flesh slid down his throat and into his stomach. It spread like wildfire, reaching out through nerves and blood vessels, through muscle and bone, until it seemed like his entire body was ablaze. The pain caused him to thrash violently, throwing Hojo into the air, and he opened his mouth in a silent scream. But the scientist was beyond reason now. He grabbed Cloud's head again, trying to smother him with his whole body, all the while cackling madly.

Images smashed and collided inside Cloud's mind. He struggled as waves of malevolence attacked his mind, tossing and turning him like a leaf caught in a whirlpool. Then the world shifted and he saw stars glittering like diamonds in a pitch black night; hard and unyielding; while around them their children, the planets, danced. It was beautiful and frightening. Then a scream reverberated in his ears – no, in his mind – and he winced, trying to close eyes that were already closed. One of the planets was dying. Even as he watched, all the colors of life circled and spun away from it, much like the one in Bugenhagen's Planetarium had. The surface slowly blackened and began to fall apart and as Cloud blinked away the pain of the lingering screams, he realized what he was seeing. It was Jenova! She hung like a bloated tick next to the dying planet, larger this time and much more horrifying. He watched as she gorged herself off of the disrupted Lifestream. Then, when there was nothing left but a husk, she clung to a piece of the broken planet and rode it through space, seeking new worlds to feed from.

These were Jenova's memories, Cloud suddenly realized as he watched world after world being infected, destroyed and absorbed; just as Hojo had done with the infected monsters, only on a far larger scale. This was what she was; the Calamity from the Sky. When she crashed from the sky onto a planet's surface, she literally exploded into dust, infecting everything within reach. Where there was intelligent life, a host body was chosen to spread discord and death and when the natural flow of the Lifestream was upset and the planet was no longer able to heal itself, Jenova called a Reunion, reabsorbing all the beings that had been infected by her, along with the host. Then she returned to her original shape and sucked the planet dry. Host after host paraded across Cloud's mind; some looked human, and some did not. But planet after planet died, never to be reborn. It was an unending cycle of death!

Beside him, inside his mind, Sephiroth also watched in shock as he learned the true fate of his "godhood" and his "mother." To become a god of destruction, only to be cast away when his usefulness was ended, just as he had used and cast away all those clones; save one. His sense of betrayal was only matched by Cloud's outrage at what such mindless destruction meant for his friends, for the Planet, and for himself.

Cloud's lungs suddenly spasmed as they pumped for the air which Hojo denied them. He felt his consciousness beginning to fade and knew that he didn't have long to live. His heart cried out in anguish, feeling Jenova's poison eat away at him from within while Hojo killed him from without. But there was someone else sharing his mind and body now. Turning, he looked at the silver haired man beside him; a man he had once admired and respected.

Sephiroth was standing frozen, shock evident in his green eyes as he watched the truth of his twisted life unraveling before him. He seemed untouched by Jenova's poison, apparently immune to it and Cloud started to reach out to him for help. Jenova screamed and he stumbled as the world suddenly fragmented. She beat at his mind, the fire in his veins flaring into an agony so intense he thought he would explode. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to move forward. He had to save his friends, no matter the cost!

Jenova flayed his skin from the inside out, slicing it with razor sharp nails until he thought he would scream from the pain and not be able to stop screaming. She tried to drown all thought from his mind, screeching at him, clawing at him, beating his mind until it felt bruised and numb. The pain was worse than anything Hojo had ever done to him in the lab during those five years and he felt his legs going out from under him. His eyes dimmed as his mind began to black out and with the last of his strength he grabbed hold of the General's arm, falling against him as his body gave out. Startled, Sephiroth looked down, inadvertently catching Cloud by the shoulders to prevent him from falling.

"Please…" Cloud faltered. His world had narrowed to a pinpoint. He could no longer see anything but Jenova's darkness, but he tried to look up to where he thought Sephiroth's eyes would be. "Save them!"

As the light faded from his eyes, Cloud summoned up all of his remaining strength and willed it into the man before him. All of his outrage, love, memories, hopes, and dreams; even the very Lifestream that empowered him; he poured all of it into Sephiroth. The frantic pounding in his head increased to a crescendo as his heart thundered, struggling for oxygen. Then it stopped and Jenova laughed triumphantly as silence engulfed him and he knew no more.

Cloud's eyes closed and his grip on Sephiroth's arm loosened. The General caught him as his breath stopped and he collapsed. He lifted the smaller man easily, holding him close to his chest like a child and stared down into the blonde's familiar face. His eyes traced the gentle line of Cloud's jaw, the pursed lips now slack and slightly opened, long golden eyelashes resting like silk against pale cheeks and for some reason he couldn't explain something snapped inside of him. He felt a strange kind of emptiness clutch at his heart like a vise and finally recognized it for what it was.

Loneliness.

For so long now he had felt another's presence in his mind, known he could call it, order it about, coax it to do his bidding, and praise it when it performed his tasks satisfactorily. He had used it body and soul, shared its fears and hopes. It was his puppet, his apprentice, his little brother. It was Cloud. And now Hojo and Jenova were taking him away. He stared at the man in his arms and his lips pinched down. Suddenly he was overwhelmed with a need to protect something other than himself. It was exhilarating and painful.

Hojo felt Cloud stop breathing and let go of his head, bouncing about excitedly.

"Now, Sephiroth!" he cried out in triumph. "The body is all yours!"

Sephiroth heard the hated voice and an icy hot rage began to build slowly inside of him. There were so many things this man had done; to him, to Zack, and to Cloud. All the memories he had inadvertently shared with Cloud came back to him tenfold. He looked down at the still form in his arms. It was beginning to fade, the feather weight growing lighter by the minute. Images of Jenova's plans, of what she was, flashed across his mind and once again he heard the blonde's voice. It called to him softly, innocent and trusting of a man he should never have trusted in the first place; not once, but twice!

_Please. Save them!_

"I finally got rid of that miserable failure. Hee hee hee! Take the body, Sephiroth, and become a god with Jenova!"

Sephiroth snarled, gripping Cloud closer. Hojo! That damned scientist! He had tried to destroy everything that was good in this world in the name of an evil that didn't deserve to exist; had turned him against his only friend and now he had killed the only other person who might have trusted him, calling him a failure. And all for what? For some sick fantasy that wasn't even real? With a roar, Sephiroth erupted from Cloud's body, transforming instantly now that there was no resistance. He took a deep shuddering breath and looked around, green eyes slitted.

Totally oblivious to his own danger, Hojo floated toward him, dancing about in the air and giggling gleefully. "I did it! I did it! How do you like your new body, hmm?"

Sephiroth glared at him with a hatred so fierce that the green of his eyes flashed almost pure white. In less than the blink of an eye, he called the Masamune to his hand and sliced the seven foot blade through the scientist's body, cutting it in half and spraying blood everywhere.

"What are you doing?!" Hojo shrieked, eyes bulging as he dropped like a stone to the floor. Mako eyes glowing as if the fires of hell were fueling them, Sephiroth stalked after the sniveling worm. Hojo scrabbled across the floor, tentacles waving wildly, and he calmly chopped off one and then the other. When the scientist couldn't even crawl away, he dropped the sword and grabbed the miserable creature by the neck and began to throttle the life out of him, as he had done to Cloud.

"You have interfered with me for the last time," he snarled into Hojo's face.

The scientist's head jerked wildly in Sephiroth's grip. "But I made you! You're my son! You'll be a god and so will I!!" The rubbery lips dribbled green fluid and the eyes started to bulge from their sockets.

Silver brows shot down.

"I am no son of yours, old man, and Jenova does not want a god." His shoulder muscles flexed and he ripped Hojo's head off of what remained of his body, throwing the pieces away from him in disgust. He turned and walked back to pick up his sword when he heard the hated voice start giggling from the decapitated head, taunting him.

"You can't kill me! I'm immortal! I can rebuild my body just like Jenova!"

Sephiroth stopped. He turned slowly, lips spreading into a feral smile, and his eyes glittered dangerously as he looked down at the scientist.

"Not if I destroy every last cell," he said softly. Slowly he raised one gloved hand and flicked his fingers, calling up the same fire spell he'd used in Cosmo Canyon. Only this time it was far more powerful, for it was fueled by pure unadulterated hatred. The wind of its summoning blew his coat out around him like dark wings. His long, silver hair whipped about him and he felt the tremendous heat brush his cheeks like a caress. A thin, wailing cry issued from the center of the growing maelstrom and echoed through the reactor as Hojo began to evaporate cell by cell. But the furnace of the spell continued to spread, even when the scientist was gone, and Sephiroth frowned. He wrestled with the holocaust he had summoned, trying to control it. Then he heard Jenova's triumphant laugh and the spell suddenly turned upon its summoner, threatening to consume him. The heat no longer caressed his cheek, it blasted against his face. He held out both hands and concentrated, but the flames mocked him and he felt himself being slowly crushed by the force of them.

Suddenly Sephiroth felt another power rise up from deep within him. It was like nothing he'd ever felt before; serene and cool, where his had been hot and furious. Images bubbled up in his mind; a girl with green eyes selling flowers, a child too shy to say 'thank you', a dark-haired quiet man with glowing red eyes; laughter, companionship, sadness, and loss. And behind it all, a pair of softly glowing Mako blue eyes. It felt like smaller hands gently covered the backs of his own, pouring the power into him, guiding him, and calmly he faced the fire storm he had summoned, contained it with a gesture, and dispelled it. Jenova's laughter was cut short. She began to scream at him, but he ignored her, basking in the strange feeling of belonging to something important and wonderful.

Jenova's angry scream suddenly changed to one of retribution and the warm feeling was quickly replaced by fear as Sephiroth realized that Cloud's spirit was fading fast. He staggered, grabbing his chest. He had felt such pain only once before; the day Zack died. Only it was far worse this time, as if a part of his own soul was being torn from him. He felt his body weakening. The poison, along with the energy he had used to summon and control the spell, was finally taking its toll.

"Cloud!" he hissed between clenched teeth as Jenova laughed at him. Then he crumpled to the floor, hair spilling around his face as he reached for the one thing he could not afford to lose.


	15. Chapter 15

215

**Disclaimer**: Final Fantasy VII and all associated characters and symbols are the exclusive property of Square Enix and its associates. I'm tires of writing this, so don't look for anymore, though the same rule applies, okay?

Fifteen...

Red XIII gazed around in confusion. Vincent had reverted to his human form when the heat suddenly blasted through the area from the reactor, so intense that it actually singed Red's fur. All the monsters Vincent hadn't already killed suddenly shriveled up and vanished into ash as a high pitched wail issued from the thousands of infectious growths Hojo had used to control them. The ensuing silence was deafening.

Kisari for once stayed where she was as Red and Vincent cautiously climbed the steps and entered the reactor. They walked across a catwalk and into a large chamber Cloud had once described to them. Inside were tiers of shattered Mako pods, the metal and paint melted from being in such close proximity to the intense heat. Glancing at each other, the two companions braced themselves and climbed the steps, passing through the melted door with Jenova's name carved above it. Inside, lying on a platform in front of the broken tank that had once held Jenova's body, they found the unconscious form of Sephiroth. Vincent held his pistol at the ready and moved to a strategic position to one side of their enemy while Red moved closer and sniffed at him.

"Cloud?" he growled softly.

"Cloud," Sephiroth echoed. He stirred, silver brows furrowed slightly, and Red jumped back. But the man didn't attack. His gloved hands clenched, scraping against the metal floor, and he raised his head slowly as if disoriented or drugged.

"Vincent… Red," he said, as if he knew them.

Red's hackles went up and he growled low in his throat. The scent was confusing, neither Cloud nor Sephiroth. What was going on?

"Who are you?" Vincent quietly asked the question for both of them.

Sephiroth touched his face, looked at his gloved hand. He seemed confused.

"I'm… not sure," he answered haltingly. Silver brows drew down and he tried to stand, but his legs gave out under him and he fell over. Surprisingly, Vincent flipped the pistol into his holster and caught him, lowering him gently to the floor.

"Vincent! What are you doing?" Red howled in warning.

Sephiroth chuckled then started to cough. A line of blood trickled from his mouth.

"I'm surprised you would let your guard down like that," he said. Vincent's claws flexed near his throat and he chuckled again, but another fit of uncontrollable coughing interrupted him and a large amount of blood flowed freely from his nose and mouth. He closed his eyes briefly, trying to control his breathing. Vincent looked down on his enemy with concern in his glowing red eyes. This was Cloud, but it was also Sephiroth and he didn't know what to do. When the fit was over, Sephiroth opened his eyes again and turned to look at the dark haired man holding him.

"Vincent..." the eyes shifted ever so slightly and he continued, "Cloud... is in a bad way," he whispered hoarsely. "He needs help."

"Cloud would rather die than let you harm anyone!" Red barked angrily, baring his teeth.

Sephiroth grimaced. "You're right," he said, and it almost sounded like there was admiration in his voice. "But _he_ is dying and _I_ am asking."

Vincent frowned. Silver hair spilled over his arm. The elegant features of the face, the lips and slender brows reminded him of Lucrecia and he winced.

"How do we know you're not just trying to trick us into helping you?" Red demanded.

"You don't." Sephiroth took a careful breath. "But I can't hold onto his spirit much longer. Hojo poisoned him with Jenova's rotted corpse," he nodded weakly toward the tank, but the movement made him wince and he started coughing until his whole body shook with the spasms. Vincent and Red glanced at the purple mass of decaying flesh inside the tank and their hearts sank. "I was wrong." Sephiroth laughed weakly. "The great Sephiroth, a god among puny humans, was no more than a puppet all along." His eyes started to close and he abruptly jerked them open.

"Cloud!" The sudden movement caused Vincent's claws to contract automatically, jabbing into Sephiroth's neck, but the silver-haired General didn't seem to notice. He looked at the ex-Turk, eyes glowing urgently. "I'm losing him. I must get out of this body, now!"

"Then do it!" Red snarled.

"I can't!" Sephiroth snapped back.

"Why?" Vincent asked coldly.

"Because I've been here too long. My consciousness is fixed. I cannot leave unless I have another vessel to move into." Sephiroth frowned. "Wait. There were clones of me in tanks inside Hojo's lab." He fixed his eyes on Vincent. "It's the only chance he has."

Cloud's spirit had nearly vanished. In his mind Sephiroth could barely feel the weight of the man in his arms and fear clenched at his gut. He didn't have much time left if he was to save him.

Vincent and Red looked at each other.

"I need to get there now!" Sephiroth rose unsteadily to his feet, shoving Vincent roughly away. He staggered. "Damn it, Cloud!" His voice abruptly took on the timbre of a commanding officer and he snapped, "Fight, Soldier!" Red jumped to attention and even Vincent jerked as if he was about to obey the General. Sephiroth gritted his teeth. Breathing heavily, he stumbled out the door and down the steps between the Mako pods. Vincent and Red looked at the Masamune, which lay shimmering on the floor where Sephiroth had lain only moments before. Vincent picked up the sword then together they turned and ran after him.

Sephiroth found himself in an awkward position, both trying to hold tightly to Cloud's fading spirit while at the same time trying to force his unwilling body to obey him. He knew Jenova was trying to kill him through the body. He could feel his own Jenova cells responding now to the poison in Cloud's body. Alone, he probably could've withstood her interference; together, they were killing each other. He was halfway down the steps when he lost his balance and started to fall. A clear whistle rang out suddenly behind him, echoing inside the reactor until he felt his ears ring uncomfortably. He instinctively looked up as he tried to catch himself and saw a wall of gold feathers speeding toward him. Sephiroth raised his hands in an effort to fend it off as he fell, but Kisari just flopped in front of him, catching him with her body and crooned happily, tugging at his hair and tapping his shoulders with her beak like an overprotective mother hen. When he tried to push her off, she just sidled closer, forcing him to grab her feathers to keep from falling backwards.

Vincent pulled two fingers from his mouth. He raised an eyebrow as he noticed Red staring at him in surprise; whether because he had whistled or because he could whistle wasn't clear.

Sephiroth clutched roughly at the chocobo's feathers and tried to pull himself upright.

"Damnit!" he cursed his weakness. He eyed the feathered beast a long moment. If he couldn't reach the clone tanks on his own, maybe he could use the riding bird. Only, "I've never ridden a chocobo before," he admitted to himself. "Always wondered what it was like." He scowled. "How do I get on one of these things?" he demanded of no one in particular as he tried to pull himself upright.

"Normally one hops," Vincent's voice commented quietly behind him and his muscles jumped at being caught unawares. The man was a damned spook! "But in this case, I will assist you." The ex-Turk bent next to Sephiroth, grabbed his waist in a powerful grip and set him onto Kisari's back. The chocobo stood up, immediately aware of the unsteadiness of her rider as he tried his best to balance himself on the moving mound of slippery feathers. Red growled, but deferred to Vincent's choice. He was their enemy, but he was also Cloud, and it seemed that Sephiroth was serious about helping Cloud.

"Which way?" Vincent looked up, red eyes glowing. Sephiroth grabbed a handful of feathers, legs straddling the chocobo, and said, "There's a cave that leads to an underground passage from the Shinra Mansion."

Vincent nodded. "We know it."

Sephiroth's eyes narrowed then he shrugged. "I found four clone tanks at the end of a long passageway just outside the Mansion labs."

Vincent stared at him a moment then suddenly leaped up, landing astride the chocobo behind Sephiroth. He slid one arm firmly around the General to hold him in place then tucked his claw hand across his chest near the man's throat. "Go!" he called out to Kisari and the huge bird gathered her legs and sailed down the steps, across the catwalk and out of the reactor. There were reins wrapped around the bird's neck, Sephiroth noted, but Vincent didn't make use of them. Instead, the ex-Turk lightly tapped the beast's side and she obediently turned toward the cave entrance Sephiroth had exited only a short while ago.

The ride was somehow exhilarating to Sephiroth and he would have enjoyed it if the circumstances hadn't been so grave. He watched as they raced through the cave entrance and into Hojo's extensive lab facilities, feeling the great riding bird's muscles flex and shift beneath the slippery feathers. They passed through the arena and he pointed, indicating the passage on the left. Vincent turned without questioning him and Sephiroth tried to shift his weight to relieve the cramp that was starting in his thighs from trying to hang onto the bird with legs that were unused to such exercise.

A searing pain took him by surprise and his body arched against Vincent's as he inhaled with a sharp hiss. His vision blurred and every muscle locked up as Jenova's poison suddenly hit his nerves, burned their way through his body and making his blood feel like it was on fire. His whole body was on fire, worse than any materia attack he had ever endured, and his mind exploded in fragments of light and darkness.

Sephiroth's head suddenly dropped and his body went limp as he started to slide off. Vincent tightened his grip, concerned by the apparent weakness of their enemy. What if he was right and Cloud truly was dying? Once more he struggled with himself over his decision. Would Cloud wish to live if it meant saving Sephiroth as well? How many battles had they fought? How much pain had they endured at the hands of the monster that called itself Sephiroth? Yet as hard as he tried, he could not reconcile this man with their mortal enemy. Something had changed. But what? And more importantly, why?

"Are you sure about this?' Red XIII echoed his own doubts as he ran alongside Kisari.

Vincent thought about it. "No." Red stumbled, falling behind briefly before he caught up again and glared at the dark-haired man. "But I am also not sure I want to let Cloud die."

Red looked away, doubts tugging him in multiple directions as well. "Yes," he finally agreed, and concentrated on running.

They reached the room described by Sephiroth and looked around, but the General abruptly pushed Vincent's arm away and half fell, half slid off the chocobo. He leaned against her for a moment, breathing heavily, lungs rasping for air in the sudden silence. Then he turned and staggered toward the recessed alcove housing the silver-haired clones. His vision blurred and he swayed, blood in his mouth; Cloud's blood, caused by Jenova's flesh. There was no time left. Cloud had all but vanished, even though he was trying to hold onto him, and he began to feel his own spirit crumble under Jenova's onslaught. She laughed in his head and he wondered how he could ever have believed she was his mother.

Red appeared beneath him as Sephiroth started to fall, giving him something to lean on. The General accepted it without question, marveling at such devotion. With troops such as this, he could've ruled the world instead of Shinra. He laughed at the thought. It was ironic. Only someone like Cloud, who had no wish to rule anything but his own destiny, could've attracted such steadfast loyalty from a group of mismatched warriors like this.

Using the great red beast as a crutch, Sephiroth approached the nearest tank; the one marked specimen D. He leaned against the glass and concentrated, focusing all of his will and energy on the child within. There was no consciousness or awareness, he confirmed, merely an empty vessel. A thought suddenly struck him and he turned to look at Vincent and Red while he leaned against the tank, using it to remain upright.

"Before I leave this body, you must promise to do something for me." At their looks of suspicion, he smiled with a ghost of his old disdain. "You must swear to me that you will release me from this tank when my own body has matured."

Vincent studied him a moment. "I swear that I will release you and kill you if necessary," he announced coldly.

Sephiroth nodded, then frowned as he looked more closely at the ex-Turk. There was something about the man's face that seemed oddly familiar to him, though he couldn't place where or why he should think so.

"Do I know you?" he asked.

Vincent thought a moment, realizing that Sephiroth was not referring to the many times they had fought. He sighed and shook his head slowly. "I do not think you would remember me. They took you away right after you were born. But I knew your mother, Lucrecia."

"My… mother? Lucrecia? But I thought…"

"Jenova was your mother?" Vincent finished for him. "No." He looked away briefly. "Cloud could've told you. I will not." He turned back. "Suffice it to say your mother was human. A beautiful woman named Lucrecia." Vincent looked at his claws, clenched them, and his features once more settled into a cold mask.

"I have given you my word. Now keep yours."

Sephiroth nodded. Once more he leaned his forehead against the glass and concentrated on the empty mind within. It took a tremendous effort of will to force himself into the new vessel for part of him did not want to leave Cloud and his friends. He laughed abruptly at his own weakness and finally slipped into the clone's body; the last he would ever take, he swore to himself; and as consciousness left him, he thought he heard a voice whisper inside his head.

'Sephiroth…'

It was the voice of the trooper as he died, of the clone as he handed over the Black Materia, of Cloud, and it reassured him somehow that there would be a future worth looking forward to.

Cloud's body abruptly crumpled like a broken doll as he fell away from the tank, changing back to that of the familiar blonde SOLDIER. Vincent rushed forward and caught his friend, lowering him gently to the stone floor. Red moved up beside him and sniffed.

"It is Cloud. I do not sense Sephiroth here." He looked at the tank. The eight year old boy within slept on. "He kept his promise." Red sounded astonished.

Abruptly Vincent grabbed Phoenix Down from his belt pouch and quickly administered it to Cloud, feeling the coldness of his hands and face. He pulled off his cape and wrapped it around his friend, whose clothes had also reverted back to those of a SOLDIER, then he looked at Red.

"Sephiroth wasn't lying. He's in very bad shape. Potions and Elixirs will not be enough. We must get him to a doctor quickly."

Red looked at him. "The nearest doctor is in Midgar, or possibly Mideel. But I wonder if either will know how to treat Jenova poisoning." The red beast scowled. Then he thought of something and looked into Vincent's concerned eyes. "Take Kisari. We'll go to Cosmo Canyon. Perhaps earth magic will heal where human magic cannot."

Vincent looked startled, but nodded. Picking up Cloud like a small child, he called the chocobo to him and gently set him on her back. Then he hopped up behind Cloud, holding him upright to steady him. His young friend felt light, too light, and it concerned him. He caught up the reins and whistled Kisari to her fastest speed. The gold chocobo needed no further urging. They flew down the passageway back toward the reactor. There were monsters blocking them in the direction of the Shinra Mansion, so they would have to take the longer mountain path leading from the Mt. Nibel Reactor to the little town of Nibelheim. He was not very familiar with this particular path, having only traveled it one other time with Cloud and the Avalanche team, but he remembered enough to get them down the weaving paths, across the rope bridge and through the few simple caves.

He didn't bother to look at the natural beauty of the caves or the Materia fountain as they passed them. The man in his arms was growing steadily colder and his breathing was difficult to hear; no more than a soft whisper of air, infrequently drawn and expelled. Vincent pulled Kisari to a sudden stop when they reached the outskirts of Nibelheim and once more he administered a few drops of Phoenix Down from the small bottle he carried with him. Then he drew a green bottle from his pouch, an elixir, and poured some of it between Cloud's lips, but most of the liquid dribbled back out of his unresponsive mouth. Vincent frowned.

"What's wrong?" Red barked between pants. He was out of breath from trying to keep up with the chocobo, but he immediately saw the concern in his companion's face and it worried him. Vincent wasn't the sort to show emotions freely. The fact that he was doing so now wasn't a good sign.

"Cloud is dying," the dark haired man stated flatly, lips pinched.

Red XIII stared at him disbelievingly then howled. "Well do something!"

Vincent turned glowing red eyes on the beast and Red flinched. "I am," he answered. "It's not working."

Red XIII looked at his friend lying slumped and unresponsive in the arms of the ex-Turk. His eyes narrowed then he bared his teeth and barked, "Then run! Take Kisari and run as fast as you can to Cosmo Canyon. Tell the guard at the gate that I want him to use grandfather's special potion on Cloud. It may help to anchor his spirit enough so that we can heal him. I'll catch up as soon I can!"

Vincent looked at Cloud then down at Red XIII. He didn't like leaving his companion behind, but…

"RUN KISARI!" the great beast roared at her. "To Cosmo Canyon!"

"Wark!" The chocobo put her head down and took off. Vincent's legs clenched automatically around her sides and he hugged Cloud to him as he leaned forward to give Kisari the best balance for running. Never had she raced as fast as she did that day. Her master was hurt, far worse than she had ever seen him and his friends were deeply concerned. She felt it in the way the dark man sat on her back and in their voices when they mentioned her master's name. She all but flew down the mountain valley, kicking up grass and dirt as she turned south toward the canyons. Vincent hung on to Cloud as best he could while balancing on the chocobo's back. She wasn't wasting any time trying to keep them on her back or compensating for their balance or comfort. They needed speed and that's where she focused all her energy.

Scenery spun past in a whirlwind of color; green, brown, and gold. Kisari skipped across the river without so much as touching the water and scrambled up the almost sheer sides of the outer canyons as only a gold chocobo could. She only slowed down when she came to the steps leading up to the village of Cosmo Canyon several hours later, her sides heaving from the effort. It felt like she might collapse, but she would've continued until she dropped dead for Cloud. A guard stood under the entrance sign and without dismounting Vincent called out to him.

"Red said to use his grandfather's special potion on this man." He felt Cloud shift in his arms and looked down, wondering if he was regaining consciousness, but Cloud's body was merely settling as he slipped deeper into unconsciousness. His skin was almost transparent and Vincent realized he was losing him. Without waiting for the guard to respond, he kicked Kisari through the gate. The guard jumped out of the way at the last moment to avoid being bowled over and Vincent headed Kisari for the steps which led to Bugenhagen's house as the guard yelled something behind them. The ex-Turk saw people rushing toward the guard even as Kisari entered the first series of caves, then the gold chocobo ducked her head and Vincent bent forward on her back, folding Cloud with his body to keep them both from being knocked off by the low ceiling of the cave-like living quarters. With a twitch of the reins, he steered the chocobo up the wooden steps next to the Item shop then outside to the next flight of stairs and through another series of caves.

It was a bit harder for the chocobo to climb the ladder to Bugenhagen's house. She grabbed the wooden poles with her beak, using her claws to help her climb, and Vincent was forced to grab Cloud with his metal arm, trying not to gouge him with the sharp tips, as he held on tightly to the chocobo's neck with the other. The exit hole was barely large enough to admit both man and beast and Kisari lost a few feathers as she climbed through. She squawked, but didn't stop until she was standing in front of the door of Bugenhagen's house and could go no further. Vincent slipped off the heaving chocobo's back. He pulled Cloud into his arms, kicked the door open and carried him into the house. Then, setting Cloud gently onto the guest bed set against the wall just inside the door, he turned to search for anything that looked like it might be a special potion or elixir.

The Cosmo Canyon guard arrived a few minutes later, gasping and out of breath. He was followed by several of the students and residents of the community, but he signaled them to stay outside when he realized one of the two riders that had ridden past him was injured. He glanced at Cloud, saw how pale he was and without a word, crossed the room and jerked open a cupboard door. There were several brightly colored bottles and flasks inside, but he grabbed a dull gold one and quickly carried it to the unconscious man. With a quick glance and a soft touch, he assessed Cloud's condition. He frowned, catching his breath. It was bad. He wasn't even sure the man was alive. Vincent came up behind him, a dark shadow, demanding but silent.

"He's in pretty bad shape," the guard said as he worked the stopper loose. He leaned forward and poured a single drop of the potion onto Cloud's lips. Then he thumbed open one of his eyes. They were milky blue and dull. Vincent's lips compressed.

"Get me some blankets," the guard ordered, nodding toward a cupboard at the end of the bed. Silently, Vincent opened the cupboard door and pulled out a handful of fluffy blankets. They looked like they'd been hand woven of some kind of hair or long fur and felt warm to the touch, as if the animal that originally wore it was still there. He handed them to the guard and watched as he covered Cloud, tattered red cape and all, bundling him up tightly in the blankets. Then he carefully poured another drop of the golden liquid into Cloud's mouth. It seeped between the SOLDIER'S lips and neither was sure he'd swallowed it until Cloud gave a sudden gasp. He shuddered violently and the guard tried to hold him down, fighting the smaller man's tremendous strength.

"Help me!" he yelled as the spasms became more intense and the bed began to shake. The wooden floor creaked dangerously. Vincent gently shoved the guard out of the way and sat down on the bed beside Cloud. He took hold of the younger man's shoulders and pushed him against the bed, leaning over him with his body to trap the kicking legs. The spasms became stronger until Vincent began to wonder if he would be able to hold his friend down, then suddenly they stopped. The ex-Turk leaned over Cloud, searching his face for signs of life.

"Damn!" the guard's voice startled Vincent and he glanced briefly at the man before returning his attention to Cloud. "I never saw the old man's medicine work like that before!"

"Then let us hope it _has _worked," Vincent said curtly. Cloud's pale face had gone very still, but there was still breath passing his lips. Vincent flipped open an eyelid as he had seen the guard do and was gratified to see that it was once more the glowing blue he was familiar with. "What do we do now?" he asked the Cosmo Canyon guard. The man shrugged, baffled.

"I only saw Bugenhagen use his medicine on two other people and they both regained consciousness immediately. Course they weren't near this bad off either." He scratched his head. "Guess we'll just have to wait and see. I'll go get you some food while you wait, okay?" He looked almost apologetic that the medicine hadn't worked like he expected. Vincent nodded without looking at him. He heard the man speak briefly to the people waiting outside, but paid no attention to what was said, only that the people withdrew shortly thereafter.

"…nova…" Cloud's voice wasn't more than a whisper of breath. Vincent started in surprise, then leaned closer. "Je… nova…" The younger man's brows furrowed in pain and he swallowed reflexively. Vincent recalled what Sephiroth had told him about Hojo making him swallow a piece of Jenova and grimaced. He could think of nothing worse than having to touch that vile thing, let alone being forced to swallow a piece of it. He shuddered reflexively.

"Wark?"

Startled, Vincent turned and saw Kisari's head sticking through the open door. She obviously wanted to come in, but the little house wasn't big enough to accommodate a bird her size so she just stood and peered in the doorway instead. Vincent considered what to say to the bird.

"He's alive," he finally said, and the chocobo chirruped. She managed to sound both reassured and worried at the same time and Vincent wondered how intelligent the bird truly was. She was Cloud's favorite and he'd always had a special kind of bond with her that none of the other Avalanche members had with their chocobos. Vincent had assumed that Cloud just got used to her from the many races he'd run at the Gold Saucer in an attempt to win some of the rarer Materia. Now he wasn't so sure. He looked down at Cloud then up at the chocobo. "I will tell you if anything changes." He felt perfectly at ease talking to her, which was a bit of a contradiction. But she seemed satisfied and pulled her head out, making room for the guard to enter with a tray of sandwiches and tea. He stared at her, giving her a wide berth, then crossed to the table and set the tray down.

"Do you want me to take care of your bird?" he asked doubtfully, wondering how he would handle a monster so big.

Vincent shook his head. "I will attend to her shortly," he assured the man. He walked over to the table, looking at the sandwiches, picked up one, grabbed a small mug of tea and returned to Cloud's bed.

"My name's Marcus," the guard said. "If you need anything else, just call me. If I'm not within hearing distance, one of the students will get ahold of me. You said Red, Nanaki, sent you here? Where is he? I didn't see him when you came in."

"He was left behind. We were in a hurry and he said to ride ahead and that he would catch up."

"Oh… I see. Then we'll look for him at the gates."

Vincent nodded without looking at him and he went out the door, leaving it open as Kisari started to push her head inside again. He shrugged, puzzled about Nanaki's friends. But it was none of his business and anyway, old Bugenhagen had never been one to turn aside a person in need, no matter who he was or what he rode in on.

* * *

Three days passed with no change in Cloud's condition and Vincent and the students who attended him were worried. He wouldn't eat and they were barely able to get him to drink some of the herbal tea concoctions they made to help him gain his strength back. Red XIII arrived that night, panting and worn out from his long run south. He found Kisari planted outside his grandfather's door, asleep, and went around her quietly. When he entered the house his eyes immediately spotted Vincent sleeping on a chair beside his grandfather's bed where Cloud lay unmoving, barely breathing. Red padded up and gazed into his friend's face. The flesh had a sunken look and for some reason he seemed transparent to Red. Vincent shifted next to him and he looked up. The dark haired man silently shook his head. The poison of Jenova was taking its toll and even Cloud's SOLDIER body couldn't heal itself fast enough. It was eating away at him from inside and there were no remedies for something like that.

Red lowered his great maned head, turned and settled down beside Vincent's chair. Cloud might not be aware that they were there beside him, but they both felt the need to remain, even if it was to watch their friend die.

On the fourth night, a shimmering green light slowly enveloped Cloud's body, flickering like fireflies as Red and Vincent slept beside him. Voices called his name. In his dreams, Cloud heard them, but his mind was lost in the darkness of Jenova's hatred and he couldn't answer. Jenova's true form surrounded him, laughing at him as his world slowly vanished into her enormous maw. She resembled nothing more than a giant parasite, bloated on all the planets she had swallowed during her endless travels through space, and her cold breath froze his limbs. He heard Zack's voice calling to him too. But it was far away, swallowed by the planet and now by Jenova. There was nothing left to live for. Pain wracked his feeble body and mind, and Jenova's tentacles dragged him down into an eternity of hellish nightmares.

_I can't reach him,_ Zack said sadly.

_I know_, Aeris whispered. She'd cornered one of the Ancients and learned the truth about Cloud's ancestry. It was surprising to learn that his forefather had been key in the containment of Jenova over two thousand years ago and more so that he was the reincarnation of that man. It explained a lot.

_I don't know what to do, Aeris!_ Zack was distressed. He'd spent so much time inside of Cloud that it hurt him worse than dying to see his young friend falling away from him, out of his reach, perhaps forever.

_I know, Zack. But this is his fight. We can't interfere this time. Even the Ancients are saying so. All we can do is wait... and hope._

Zack looked at his buddy. It seemed like he was losing part of his soul and, as he watched the young SOLDIER drift away from him, he felt a sudden wrenching motion.

_Aeris! What's happening?_ he demanded.

Startled, Aeris reached down and caught Zack's arm. She pulled him toward her as Cloud fell away and looked sadly after the boy. 'He's pushed you out,' she thought to herself, realizing that even lost in his own nightmares, Cloud was somehow subconsciously trying to save Zack. She held the man she loved and watched as Cloud finally disappeared into the void of chaos and pain. Her heart was torn in two, but Zack's arms suddenly wrapped around her and he held her as she'd wanted him to do ever since they first met. She turned her face into his shoulder and said helplessly, "_We have to wait. It's all we can do."

* * *

_

Black winds slashed at Cloud's soul. Jenova laughed at him, her voice jeering and triumphant. She would win. And although she didn't have the satisfaction of killing the puppet named Sephiroth, who had turned against her in the end for this snippet of a useless human, she took great delight in burning him to ashes piece by piece, using her own cells within him to destroy him. She would leave nothing behind this time, for she too had realized who and what Cloud was. Having such a large amount of her flesh inside of him had opened a door to his memories that even he didn't have access to and she had recognized the one who nearly destroyed her, allowing those feeble Cetra to bury her host body deep in the earth where she lay imprisoned for nearly two thousand years. She would find another host body and this time she would infect the entire planet, after she destroyed this Cetra once and for all! Then, to her astonishment and fury, another will interfered with hers. A power as familiar to her as her current host body abruptly stepped between her and the boy and called out to him.

CLOUD!

Cloud stirred briefly, his breathing so shallow it might as well have been non-existent. Cat green eyes stared down at him from the swirling maelstrom that was trying to tear him apart and silver brows furrowed angrily.

SOLDIER, YOU ARE FORBIDDEN TO DIE! NOW HEAL YOURSELF!!

Cloud groaned. The world tumbled wildly around him and he was so tired, but the voice awakened something within him. It commanded and he found that he couldn't refuse it.

YES, SIR...

Obediently Cloud concentrated on his body, willing it to cleanse itself of the toxin Jenova's rotting flesh and ill will had produced. It was a long, tiring process and he was weary to the point of tears before it was completed.

GOOD WORK, SOLDIER. AT EASE. The voice sounded smug, pleased, and oddly relieved. Cloud slipped into a restful sleep as his body continued to repair itself. Jenova vanished like a bad dream as her own cells worked against her and many miles away in Nibelheim, in a tank labeled Project A, Specimen D, the young clone's lips turned up in a satisfied smirk.

* * *

_I want to thank everyone for reading this fic, because it's really been a pleasure writing it. And for those who reviewed, THANK YOU! I'm not done yet, of course, and I hope the rest answers your many questions._


	16. Chapter 16

212

Sixteen…

Cloud regained consciousness two days later. His bones ached with an intensity that left him wishing he was still unconscious. He immediately recognized the warm, prickly sensation of his Jenova cells working to heal some major injury or injuries. He'd felt it all before, but his mind couldn't seem to grasp why they should need to do so now and his brows wrinkled in confusion. He opened his eyes and was met with a fuzzy image of what looked like a wooden ceiling, though his vision couldn't bring it into any kind of clarity. He grimaced, wondering where he was and how he'd gotten here, wherever here was. He tried to move, but every bone and muscle in his body screamed at him, searing pain running along his limbs and exploding in his head and he groaned instead. Moments later two glowing red eyes appeared above him. They stared emotionlessly into his before withdrawing. There was movement and the clicking of a dog's toenails traced a path to his side.

"Cloud?" a low voice growled softly. He tried to turn his head. It felt like lead had been poured into it, but he finally managed. Red XIII was staring at him with a worried expression and Cloud's lips curled up a tiny fraction.

"Red?" he muttered hoarsely, then coughed. His voice felt like it hadn't been used in ages. It was rough and he coughed some more to clear it, which made his head ache abominably. He winced. "What happened?"

Vincent sat down next to the bed within easy view of his friend, who seemed to be having trouble turning his head or tracking them with his eyes. He poured a small amount of elixir into Cloud's mouth, watched as he swallowed and set the bottle on a table near the bed.

"You…" the dark haired man actually stumbled over the words before he continued, "destroyed Hojo." He left it at that. Cloud frowned, eyes unfocused but troubled nonetheless.

"Hojo?" He tried to sit up, but got no farther than a mere movement of his shoulders. Vincent easily pushed him back onto the bed.

"Keep still," he admonished.

Cloud remembered Hojo's face looming above his, the jab of a needle, acid burning through his veins, and rage, followed by things… actions… that he didn't want to think about. Other images tumbled into his mind as well and he inhaled sharply, closing his eyes. Vincent leaned over, touching his head lightly with his hand. The black glove had been removed and the long fingers felt cool on his forehead. Cloud opened his eyes and stared blearily up at him.

"I turned into Sephiroth, didn't I?" He wasn't sure if he really wanted an answer to that, because it would affirm suspicions about other things he thought he'd done which he didn't want to admit. Vincent withdrew his hand and nodded once. Cloud's eyes pleaded as he asked, "Did I hurt anyone?"

Vincent took a deep breath, knowing what his friend feared, and shook his head. "No," he said with a finality that brooked no argument. He didn't say anything about Sephiroth saving Cloud by moving into the clone's body nor did he mention that there had been three other clone tanks, two of them empty. That could wait till another time, if ever. Right now, his friend needed rest, not worries.

Cloud looked at him, eyes glowing fever bright, and wondered if it was worth the effort to try and get Vincent to explain. It had always been like pulling teeth to get anything from the ex-Turk, but he was sorely tempted to let his friend's silence reassure him too. He felt like a coward.

"I see," he closed his eyes and drifted away.

Hours later he awoke once more, unaware that time had passed until he turned his head sluggishly and saw Red sitting beside him. There was no sign of the ex-Turk. Cloud tried to lever himself up on one arm, winced when it collapsed under him, but still managed to spot the dark haired man asleep on the floor nearby before his vision was obscured by flashing pinwheels of light and dark. Just that small amount of movement left Cloud gasping from exertion, like he had run for miles, and he flopped limply onto the bed, his head spinning and uncomfortably warm. Red whined softly and tapped his shoulder gently with his large muzzle.

"Rest," he growled.

Cloud grimaced. "That seems to be the only thing I can do," he admitted, glaring at the ceiling as he lay on his back. When Red XIII was sure his friend wasn't going to try and move again, he padded across to the kitchen table, picked up a mug with his teeth and carefully, balancing it by turning his head sideways, brought it to the man on the bed.

"Here," he spoke around the obstruction as Cloud eyed it warily. "Drink this."

Cloud reached out an unsteady hand and Red made certain he had a good grip on it before letting go. He settled on his haunches and watched worriedly as Cloud tried to bring the mug to his lips, levering himself up on one shaky elbow. His muscles screamed in protest and wobbled as he gratefully took the mug and sipped the lukewarm liquid. It felt like sandpaper rasping down his throat and he coughed. Then it reached his stomach and a comfortable warmth began to spread through him. Cloud cocked an eyebrow at Red.

"What is this?" he asked hoarsely. The stuff had an odd taste and he wasn't sure he liked it.

Red chuckled. "One of grandfather's concoctions which the students put together," he explained. "It's good for healing, I'm told. I've never tasted it myself." Cloud held the mug out with a shaking hand for Red to sniff and the beast wrinkled his nose and moved it away from the offending mug. "Fortunately I have no need of it," he said. Cloud took another sip then shakily reached out and set the cup down on the bedside table. He flopped back onto the bed, exhaustion written in every line of his body and face. He turned to look at Red, eyes half closed as if he was having trouble keeping them open, but his face tightened into a serious expression that warned the beast he wanted to ask something important, and Red sat down on his haunches and waited as the young human gathered his thoughts.

"I remember … you, Vincent, and Kisari were running toward me outside the Mt. Nibel Reactor," he began cautiously. Red's eyes slipped sideways, anticipating what his friend was about to ask and not sure how much he should say. Vincent hadn't seen fit to share the details of that odd battle.

Cloud noticed and his eyes glowed more intensely, demanding and pleading at the same time. "Please… Tell me what happened after that. I keep seeing Jenova in my mind and Sephiroth, but I can't figure it out." Red wouldn't meet his gaze. "Red, I need to know!" he spoke softly; an urgency in his voice that pulled at the beast despite his resolve.

Red looked down to meet the steadily glowing blue eyes. They looked vulnerable and yet strong in their resolve to face the worst and Red found himself wondering what drove such a man to continue when most of the people he'd met would have given up and died long ago. It was no wonder that Cloud had been picked as the leader of Avalanche those many months ago and that they all still respected his judgment in matters regarding Jenova, Sephiroth, and Hojo. Every one of them would've followed Cloud to the ends of the earth had he asked it. Even Vincent - who seemed not to care about anybody or anything - had come when Cloud was in need.

And yet, the ex-SOLDIER couldn't always be strong, and it was unfair to think he was indestructible. Whatever had happened between Cloud and Sephiroth Red might never fully know or understand. It was beyond his comprehension, even the little he'd picked up during his travels with Avalanche. Puppets, clones, Jenova, Hojo and all the messed up insanity that went with them; Red shook his head with a sigh. He didn't want to think of what Cloud must have gone through the first time, let alone this last time when Sephiroth actually took over his body and claimed it for his own. What could he say? What should he say? How could he answer in such a way as to save the man any further discomfort, even if only for a little while?

He glanced briefly at where Vincent slept, not sure if the man was really asleep, waited to see if the ex-Turk would intervene, but the man remained confusingly silent. He shrugged, beads clacking softly in his mane.

"You lost consciousness," he finally hedged, feeling a bit foolish. He knew it wasn't the answer Cloud wanted and knew it was just as obvious to Cloud. But his friend didn't accuse him.

"And Jenova? Why do I keep seeing her in my head? It's not like when Sephiroth controlled me, it's… horrible. She was eating the planet," he whispered, closing his eyes as the images once more flooded into his mind; a planet screaming, its very life essence being ripped from it by the black void that was called Jenova.

And then other images began to merge with the first. Humans and monsters fighting in a great battle while Jenova stood in the middle, laughing. It was odd, because she in no way resembled Sephiroth in the image; dream, memory? There was something almost otherworldly to her form, even though it was also obviously human, or maybe Cetra. Lightning flew from elongated fingertips and fire from her eyes. And people died. One man, with blonde hair pulled into a long braid down his back, stood alone, hands stretched out toward the abomination. Behind him several people aimed spells of every type at the man; fire, ice, lightning and earth, without using materia. Demons that looked strangely familiar arose from the land and angels descended from the heavens, adding their power to the rest. The man gathered it all up until he fairly glowed with the intensity of it. Then, hair flying in the energy currents around him, he focused all the power he had gathered and blasted it into Jenova. She screamed and her image wavered before exploding like fragments of glass that splintered and blew apart in Cloud's mind. He shuddered violently and Red leaned forward, touching his arm gently in concern.

"I don't know," Red could only answer the spoken question. He didn't know what Cloud was seeing as he watched his friend's face shift from horror to confusion and pain. He didn't even want to try and imagine what Cloud had gone through when that piece of defilement called Jenova was forced into his body. Red XIII shivered at the thought, beads clacking and chiming loudly in the silence. They helped calm his nerves, reminding him of the battles he'd fought to earn those beads of distinction from his people and his mother.

"Hojo forced you to swallow Jenova's flesh." He turned away briefly, fighting the bile that tried to rise in the back of his throat. Cloud lay unnaturally still, obviously listening though his eyes were still closed. "It nearly killed you. We brought you back here and used some of Grandfather's medicine to help fight the sickness." He hoped it was enough because he really didn't know much more about that aspect of it. Only Sephiroth had known and he had just shared the one cryptic comment about Jenova's flesh.

"What about Sephiroth?" Cloud persisted, opening his eyes. He'd turned into the man, been possessed by him like the clones, but he hadn't been turned to ash or killed himself. It didn't make sense. But what really bothered him was the nagging feeling that Sephiroth was still alive somewhere. Not inside him. But some place near him. He could sense the man, almost hear him in his head, but there was no hint of the nightmares which had haunted him for so long and he was confused.

"He is sleeping," Vincent said quietly, rising from the floor in one easy movement and crossing to sit in the chair beside the bed. He stared thoughtfully into Cloud's eyes. "He will not bother you again."

Cloud sighed. "I guess I'll never find out what really happened then?" It was almost a statement.

"Perhaps," the ex-Turk answered cryptically. He didn't add that Sephiroth would be coming alive again in about ten years or so. A promise was a promise no matter who it was given to, but he decided that Cloud would have plenty of time to come to terms with it on his own. And besides, things could change in that amount of time; a lot of things. "You have no memories of what occurred then?"

"No, not really." Cloud looked away. More images began to flood through his mind; Hojo's cold hands squeezing his throat while cackling loudly in his ears, yelling at him to die so that Sephiroth could take his body and live. Jenova laughing at him as he saw the horror of her true self; burning sensations, pain, death and… Sephiroth. The man had possessed his body, turned him physically into his own form and used him. He recalled fear as he thought he was about to kill Kisari.

"Kisari!" he jerked up, trying to sit. His head spun wildly and he clutched at the sides of the bed to keep himself upright as he looked around, fighting the weakness and blurred vision. He blinked furiously, refusing to give in this time. There was a thump at the door and he turned, almost throwing himself out of the bed when he overbalanced. Vincent steadied him and he leaned against the ex-Turk as he looked toward the door. The world tilted, but he gritted his teeth stubbornly, trying to make out the shadowy figure blocking the door.

"Wark! Wa…ark!" Kisari's head took up almost half the opening, crest feathers standing straight up. She bobbed her head at him, obviously elated that he was awake. He smiled, then bit his lip, feeling guilty for not asking about her earlier.

"Hey girl," he called softly to her. "I'm sorry I tried to hurt you."

Vincent and Red looked sharply at each other. Cloud didn't notice.

"Qwe… ek!" the chocobo reassured him. She clacked her beak and shook her head. It looked like she might try to come inside, but Vincent glared at her over Cloud's head as he held the weakened SOLDIER and she stopped, giving him a long considering look. Finally she plunked down on the ground in front of the door, blocking it with her body, and contented herself with watching her master. Cloud's arms wobbled dangerously and Vincent lowered him gently back onto the bed. Cloud grimaced, hating the weakness.

"How long before I can get out of here?" He sounded aggravated and Vincent's lips quirked up slightly. It was a good sign.

"As soon as your body heals itself," he answered. He walked to the table and picked up a mug of tea, laced with a healing potion, and a bowl of soup which Marcus had brought up a few hours earlier. He carried them over to the bed and set them down on the bedside table. Reaching behind Cloud, he gently lifted his friend with his claw hand - being careful not to gouge him - and propped him up with the pillow. Cloud suddenly noticed that the ex-Turk wasn't wearing his cape then realized it was wrapped around him under the blankets and he raised his eyebrows in surprise, tugging lightly at the tattered red cloth. Vincent shrugged.

"You were cold," he said simply. Then, without another word, the ex-Turk started ladling soup into his friend's mouth, preventing anymore talk. Red padded to the table and lifted a sandwich off the tray, swallowing it in one gulp. He heard Cloud cough as he drank the tea. It was strong and very shortly after that he drifted off to sleep.

"I'm worried," Red grumbled.

Vincent straightened the blankets around Cloud and settled down on the chair to watch his friend. The young SOLDIER seemed to be out of danger now, but he was still very weak and the ex-Turk wasn't inclined to leave him at this point. He looked down at the red beast beside him.

"About what?" he asked quietly.

"How much does he remember? And how much should we tell him?"

"That is not our concern. He will remember what he wishes to remember. We have no need to worry, nor do we have anything to say on the matter." He seemed very sure of himself. Red wished he had as much confidence. He sighed.

"But what about Sephiroth?" he growled as he settled down on the floor.

Vincent turned softly glowing red eyes on the beast curled at his feet. "We will worry about him when it is time to awaken him. Until then, I think it is best to keep quiet and let Cloud heal."

"Yes, I suppose so." Red yawned hugely, settled his head on his paws and went to sleep.

Vincent stared at him a moment, then turned to look at Cloud. He would be alright. He'd survived the worst Sephiroth and Jenova could do to him and he didn't think dealing with a new Sephiroth would be that difficult. At least not the Sephiroth he'd watched shift into a clone's body in order to save Cloud. His brows furrowed slightly as he remembered the two empty clone tanks. It probably meant that there were two other Sephiroth clones wandering somewhere loose in the world. Not a pleasant thought. He shook his head. As he had told Red, the thing to do now was let Cloud heal. He would keep an eye on Nibelheim and the area around it just in case.

* * *

_My humble thanks to all the people who took the time to leave a review. I really appreciate hearing from you, rather than trying to guess how many people are actually reading and enjoying my story by the number of hits I receive._


	17. Chapter 17

222

Seventeen…

He stood on a hill overlooking the narrow valley that led to Mt. Nibel. But there was no village nestled at the base of the mountains and he wondered briefly what could have happened to it. There should at least be the fake village Shinra had built after Sephiroth burned the original to the ground, but there was nothing.

"_Ōkami!"_ a man's voice called out behind him; too close. Cloud jumped, reaching for his sword as he turned to see who it was. The man had long brown hair which fell below his waist, gentle green eyes and carried a wooden staff with a phoenix taking flight carved on the top. He walked toward Cloud, whose hand stopped when he realized his scabbard was empty. A jolt of fear shot through him, but the man didn't seem to notice and Cloud stood frozen to the spot as the stranger walked up to and then _through_ him. Letting out a gasp of surprise, the blonde SOLDIER backed up so quickly he almost stumbled. He turned to see who the man was talking to, even as another part of his mind puzzled over the familiar features of the staff bearer. Where had he seen that face before? Green eyes, soft instead of glaring as Sephiroth's had been. Brown hair, shining in the sunlight, though it should be in a braid, he thought, with a… ribbon? Cloud shook his head, unable to drag the memory from his confused mind.

"_Aderik,"_ a man with eyes the color of the early morning sky stepped forward and clasped hands with the brunette. Cloud was startled as he realized that this man also looked familiar. He too had long hair, though it was blonde and braided, but his bangs poked up like a chocobo's head feathers. The man wore a leather vest and pants and carried a sword slung on a scabbard across his back; a thin graceful blade, curved like a katana and extremely long. No, impossibly long! Cloud saw that it nearly touched the man's ankles as he turned, and it was angled from right shoulder to left hip to allow for as much movement and easy access as possible. Cloud narrowed his eyes, staring at the sword. Was it possible? Could it be the Masamune? But if so, what did it mean? That the sword Sephiroth carried wasn't Jenova's, as so many had speculated? Or was he just fantasizing in some warped dream brought on by mako poisoning? It had the same surreal feeling as the broken images and thoughts he had tried to piece together when he was lost inside the Lifestream before Tifa found him. But then the dream world shifted and he couldn't continue the thought.

"_This will be the final battle,"_ the man called Ōkami sounded grim.

"_Yes,"_ the man with the staff nodded sadly. He eyed his friend carefully. _"You know what needs to be done, as do I,"_ he added softly.

"_I'm going too!"_ Cloud turned quickly on his heels to see a young woman approaching.

"_Kara?"_

Aderik turned, surprised. But Ōkami merely watched as a young teenager with raven hair hurried up through the long grass toward them. Cloud wondered briefly when the grass had appeared. The field had been empty until then. The girl glared up at the two men defiantly. She stood less than a meter from Cloud, though he was sure now that she couldn't see him any more than the others had. She was fingering a sharp sickle shaped weapon that was attached to her belt and her eyes glowed with a familiar blood red color. Cloud's eyes narrowed. What was going on here? Why did everybody seem so familiar and yet... wrong somehow?

"_And I am too!"_ A low voice barked. Cloud jumped, only to have his eyes widen as he saw Red XIII, or at least what looked like a younger version of him, coming up behind the girl. He had no markings or battle scars on him though, and both eyes were wide open so Cloud wasn't sure.

"_Seto…"_ the man called Ōkami actually sounded distressed, but Cloud was too surprised to notice as his breath hitched at the name. Seto? Red's father? What kind of dream was this?_ "… Kara. Are you sure about this?"_

The two - human and beast – nodded, eyes as serious as if they had agreed to follow him to the ends of the earth, and maybe they had. Ōkami nodded in silent thanks, acknowledging what they offered in the only way he could. He turned away then and together the four of them faded into the distance. Green mist swirled around Cloud as he stared after them. He wanted to follow, to find out where they were going and who they were preparing to fight, for it was obvious to him that they were preparing to go into a battle from which they did not plan on returning. But what fight could be so bad that they would enter into it with the surety of death and yet not back down? Then an image of him, and the people of Avalanche, facing off against Sephiroth and Jenova rose before Cloud's eyes and he shivered.

* * *

Cloud shivered violently, muttering something unintelligible. Red moved closer, pushing his nose against the blankets which cocooned their friend. He was sweating again and the smell was sharp and slightly musty, with a cloying carrion scent that made his nose wrinkle up in disgust. It was a combination of the clean scent of the Ancients and the cloying stench of Jenova. It seemed as if some sort of battle was raging inside of his friend, a battle between the two forces, and he found himself praying that they wouldn't tear him apart._

* * *

Ōkami!_

Kara's voice screamed beside him and Cloud jumped instinctively aside just as a blast of power shot past him. He felt the heat of the fire spell - a huge one - and he looked around, bewildered. The raven haired girl whipped her oddly shaped shuriken over her shoulder and let fly at something behind Cloud. He turned abruptly, aware that there were others fighting all around him. There were screams of people dying. Monsters howled and shrieked. He was in a battle! His eyes narrowed as he took it all in. Aderik stood to his left, staff wielded like Aeris had once done, except it was somehow defeating spells as well as bludgeoning monsters. Seto was there also, dodging in and out of the energy beams that lanced toward him, roaring as he somehow lobbed fire spells at something just out of Cloud's sight. He tried to see what they were fighting and his heart suddenly sank as he recognized the blue female form hovering amidst a sea of monsters; beasts whose eyes blazed a sickening green. Men and women he didn't know fought with the horribly deformed monsters, trying to break through their shield to reach the woman within; Jenova!

She looked different from the pieces Cloud had seen in the reactor in Mt. Nibel and at Shinra Headquarters in Midgar. She was whole, for one thing, and taller. Her face was delicate with long almost crystalline silver hair trailing around her as if blown by a gentle wind; a wind created by power. She had long fingers, with nails that looked like they could slice a person in half, and beams of energy shot from her fingertips as her eyes glowed a furious green, just like the monsters she controlled. He remembered the pieces he and Avalanche had battled; all the spells she had cast from mere fragments of her body. But this was the original, complete and whole and extremely dangerous, as evinced by the number of spells that flew from her toward the people opposing her. Cetra? Cloud looked around in surprise as the thought hit him. He jumped aside automatically as another flash of heat tried to skewer him. It felt like Bolt 3 only way too powerful! Could there even be a Bolt 5 or 6? He didn't know.

Whipping the Masamune around, he deflected three more spells as they sought him out, then turned and walked calmly toward the monstrosity. She saw him, looked directly into his eyes. She _knew_ him! He saw… love? And fear as well! The monsters tried to intercept him before he got close, trampling other Cetra as they attempted to keep them away from him. He waded through them, slicing them to pieces with an ease that frightened him, using the long deadly sword as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Swing, flip, twist; the blade flew in circles and yet felt as if it had no weight at all. A veritable wall of dead surrounded him and yet he still walked forward. She screamed, flinging spell after spell at him and he deflected or absorbed them. It hurt, but he didn't stop. He couldn't stop! Something was forcing him forward even as the pain threatened to tear him apart.

Then he stopped, standing only a few meters from her.

"Jenowa," he whispered sadly, not even knowing what he was saying. It couldn't be Jenova. That didn't seem right, though it did seem she was the one he was looking at as he spoke. But then why be sad? He should be angry, enraged even. She slashed at him with her long nails and he leapt backward, just out of reach. Her green eyes gleamed with unholy, unspeakable evil and yet all he saw was a beautiful woman beseeching him to release her. What was going on?

He released the sword, which floated gently before him, still deflecting spells from the Calamity as if it had a mind of its own, and stretched out his arms as if to embrace her. Behind him he felt rather than saw his companions begin to funnel their spells into him. He felt the power rise inside of him, burning him, cleansing him. He grew with it, encompassing all the combined spells of every Cetra who still had power to cast - like a living Materia - and still they pumped their remaining power into him until he shone with it like a small sun. His hands shook as he tried to contain the energy. His eyes hurt from the light shining through him, trying to burst forth. He was blinded by it. Jenova shrieked somewhere ahead of him, throwing everything she had at him and still he stood unmoving, absorbing it all until he could no longer feel his body. He couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't…

"I'm sorry…" he said softly as he pushed his hands toward her, releasing the pent up energy in one monstrous spell. She shrieked as it hit her, trapped in a dance of death as all the different elements; fire, ice, wind, earth and water hit her at once. Demons and angels flared around her like a corona, gods of the summoning who lent their power to his own and the Planet's. He closed his eyes as the conflagration suddenly exploded in a huge fireball of many colors. Shards flew past and through him. His sword tried to protect him, but the backlash of so much power hit and slashed his body to ribbons. He cried out in agony. Then the world went white.

* * *

"How is he?" Vincent's quiet voice made Red's muscles lock up temporarily as he tried to keep from jumping out of his skin. He hadn't heard the ex-Turk come up beside him. The last he knew, Vincent had gone outside for some air. The red beast craned his head up to look into the man's fiery eyes, banked now as if pondering something. He turned back to the bed and Cloud.

"Still feverish," Red turned his muzzle toward the blonde invalid. "He smells like… Ancients and… Jenova, I think," Red added reluctantly.

Vincent's brows rose beneath the headband. It didn't keep the hair out of his eyes very well and the rest of his face was exposed now because of the absence of his cloak, which was still wrapped around Cloud. His lips thinned in a manner that reminded Red of Sephiroth.

"Ancients?" he asked, frowning. He could understand Jenova. Cloud had been poisoned by the thing and the scent must be very clear to someone with Red's sense of smell. Even he could pick up a lingering trace, like carrion mixed with the cloying sweet scent of blood and death; probably because of the demons he harbored inside of him, though he really didn't want to think about it.

Red glanced at him then back to the man on the bed.

"Yes. I have smelled the scent before, both here and in the Temple of the Ancients. I don't know why Cloud would smell like the Ancients, though." He trailed off into silence and Vincent also stared at the SOLDIER, wondering.

He noticed sweat beading on Cloud's face and went to the sink to fill a small tub full of water. He brought it to the bedside table, then - pulling his glove off with his teeth - dipped a cloth into it and squeezed one-handed. Being careful not to tear holes in the material with his claw hand, he folded it and laid the cool cloth across Cloud's forehead.

Cloud shivered at his touch, shifting his head from side to side as if struggling against something. He muttered incoherently, then suddenly his hands jerked out of the blankets and made a pushing motion or – Vincent considered with narrowed eyes – as if casting a spell. Cloud's fingertips glowed briefly, electricity dancing across the clammy skin, before his hands fell limp against the bed again. Vincent felt a brief surge of what felt and smelled like lightning. A bolt spell? Why would Cloud feel the need to fight in his dreams so violently? And what was he dreaming?

The cloth fell from Cloud's brow at the sudden motion and Vincent studied his friend's complexion. The combination of sweat and the water from the cloth had caused his flyaway hair to stick to his face in places, making him look helpless and much younger than the ex-Turk knew him to be. He had watched Cloud fight and knew he was both strong and capable in his own right, but at the moment Vincent felt an overpowering urge to protect him. It was a foreign emotion to him and he pondered the strange sensation a moment before picking up the cloth that had fallen to the floor. He dipped it back into the water and carefully laid it across the blonde's forehead again. Cloud no longer looked to be on death's door, but he had been feverish on and off since last night, when he awakened from his Jenova induced coma, and the only thing Vincent and Red could think to do was keep his fever down as much as possible.

The local doctor had suggested that the fever might be the only way for a SOLDIER'S body to cleanse itself of the poison and he was forced to agree with that diagnosis, having no intimate knowledge of a SOLDIER'S constitution. He'd only seen the speed with which Cloud's enhanced body repaired injuries, which was faster than even the ex-Turk's, except perhaps when one of his demons took over temporarily. Then his own body was cured almost instantaneously, unless he was close to death, which had happened a few times. An image of Cloud taking several hits as he shielded Vincent's twisted, monstrous body while administering Phoenix Down flashed briefly in his mind and he bit his lower lip, tearing at it in an unusual show of the aggravation.

"What was that?" Red moved up beside him, staring at Cloud with his single eye widened in surprise. Apparently he too had seen the flicker of lightning. Vincent sent a calculating look his way then jumped as a voice grated across his mind.

"_HE IS LEARNING."_

The voice was dark and eerie, a sharp claws wrapped in black velvet; hidden but dangerous. It was Chaos' voice. Vincent jerked, claw hand clenching briefly. He forced it to relax and asked instead, _"Learning what?"_

Chaos chuckled. _"THE PLANET KNOWS."_ There was a pause, then, _"HE IS… UNUSUAL. IT SHOULD PROVE INTERESTING WHEN HE FINALLY FINDS HIS WINGS."_ The demon withdrew.

Vincent reached out and automatically flipped the cloth over, feeling that it had already grown warm. One of his inner demons, the strongest one he harbored within his twisted body, was interested in the blonde SOLDIER. That could be bad, or good. He just didn't know. And what did he mean by _finally finds his wings_? Vincent sighed mentally at the cryptic words. Chaos didn't bother to talk to him much, but when he did, it was usually in a manner that left Vincent fumbling for hidden meanings.

Red XIII watched as the ex-Turk's glowing eyes shifted; a brief darkness swirling within their fiery depths. It reminded him of Chaos and he shuddered. Glancing away, his gaze settled on the blonde who lay on his grandfather's guest bed. Cloud lay unmoving once more and he wondered what he'd been dreaming that would make him call up a spell. Then his eye widened as he realized that Cloud had called up a spell, or at least the beginnings of one, without Materia! He glanced up at Vincent just as the same thought apparently crossed the ex-Turk's mind. Blood colored eyes met his own widened orange one and they both turned to stare at Cloud.

* * *

The phone rang upstairs. Tifa was busy setting a drink out for one of her customers and her mouth twitched irritably before she sent a pleasant blank smile at the man, turned and - wiping her hands on her apron - hurried to the stairs and up to Cloud's bedroom. He'd turned half of it into an impromptu office; with a desk, phone, notepad and pen on the desk to take down messages and orders for deliveries. He'd also tacked up a cork board on which several maps were pinned, as well as hand written notes with delivery instructions in the spidery handwriting Cloud used. She found herself smiling briefly at the fine script. It was so different from the giant sword he carried, and the way he fought and generally presented himself to the world. He might've been a scholar, she thought, had things turned out differently at Nibelheim.

Tifa frowned as a brief image flashed in her mind of Cloud fighting against the bigger boys in her village, bullies who liked to bait him because of his size, his chocobo colored hair and slightly less than masculine features. She'd always sort of liked his features, though she'd never bothered to say anything, a fact that she regretted now that she knew him better. Words unspoken could be as hurtful as words spoken, it seemed, and she had been guilty of the former. She wondered how Cloud could ever forgive her, in Nibelheim and then later at the Crater when her own doubts had driven him into Sephiroth's control. All he had needed back then was a word of reassurance from her that he was who he thought he was and not some construct created by Hojo as Sephiroth insisted; a thing filled with memories that were not his own. She shook her head, pushing away the guilt and horror of what she done to him.

The phone was still ringing stridently and she picked it up, putting on her best professional voice as she answered, "Strife Delivery Service. We deliver anything, anywhere…"

"Hi Tifa!" Yuffie's voice practically blasted through the earpiece at her and Tifa winced, pulling the phone away from her ear a bit.

"Yuffie?" she asked, wondering why the little ninja girl was calling.

"Yeah! Say, where's Cloud? I thought he'd be here by now!"

Tifa's heart sank like a stone. She leaned against the desk, knees suddenly weak.

"Cloud?" was all she could get past clenched teeth. She remembered Barret's call. He'd said Cloud was acting strangely, though not how, and even Cid hadn't wanted to look her in the eye when she greeted him at the port north of Midgar after arriving with his buggy on the ferry to collect the parts Reeve had found for him.

"He should have been there, unless he got another job along the way," Tifa fudged. She didn't want to say her suspicions out loud lest they become truth and not just silly worries. Cloud had left Barret at North Corel at least a week ago, no make that two. He should've been to Wutai by now, unless he really had made an unscheduled stop – which was entirely possible as he did pick up work during his deliveries – or unless he was in trouble. Tifa's lips thinned and she started chewing her fingernail absently.

"Well, I'll wait for him a little longer then. I was just wondering what was keeping him and since he won't answer his damned cell phone, I thought I'd get the skinny from you. Keep me posted, kay?"

"Alright," Tifa said slowly. Her eyes darted over the board, glancing across the writing in hopes that he'd left a note for her or something stating he had an extra delivery he'd forgotten to tell her about. Of course there was nothing. She'd already checked the board a dozen times after she got that disturbing call from Barret.

She set the phone in its cradle and stared at it a moment, then her eyes narrowed and she punched in Cloud's cell number and waited while it rang. When she got the answering service, she huffed angrily and almost slammed the phone down, but hesitated. He could just be busy. Irritated, she waited until the electronic voice finished its mindless drone. She wished that Cloud had gotten the nerve up to personalize his message. She would've liked to have heard his voice. When it was finished, she clutched the phone tighter and spoke almost harshly into the receiver.

"Cloud? This is Tifa. Yuffie was calling about the delivery. Where are you? Are you alright? Please call me." She stared at the phone a long moment before setting it back in its cradle. He could just be busy. There were so many possible reasons why he couldn't answer his cell phone, right? But Tifa didn't believe any of them. She sighed and headed back down to the bar.

Halfway across the Planet, north of Cosmo Canyon, what was left of Cloud's cell phone slowly vanished beneath the blowing sands and decaying monsters.

* * *

_I just thought I'd leave a little Christmas present for all those wonderful readers and REVIEWERS (love you guys!) You make it all worth while. Thanks! And to some of my favorite, and might I add loyal, reviewers who have stuck with me through thick and thin; 1wngdnl, Jana-Yggdrasil, (been missy spazzy; my Blindfolded Angel), and Vermillion Dragoness... Thanks. I really rely on all you guys to keep me writing._


	18. Chapter 18

234

Eighteen…

Cloud regained consciousness slowly. Images of people he didn't know still played like shadows behind his eyelids as he struggled to open his eyes. It hurt when real sunlight hit them and he groaned, trying to cover his eyes with one hand. His arm moved sluggishly, but he felt a bit stronger and rolled onto his side. Blankets impeded his movement and he got tangled in them before a long fingered hand reached into his narrow line of vision and twitched them aside. Gratefully Cloud glanced sideways and up to where Vincent was standing beside the bed. He managed a weak smile then wrinkled his nose when the smell of his body reached it. He plucked at his shirt underneath Vincent's cloak.

"Any chance of getting a bath in this place?" he croaked ruefully.

A smile tugged at Vincent's lips despite himself.

"I believe that can be arranged," Vincent said, understanding how Cloud felt. He had already made use of Bugenhagen's facilities a couple of times since they arrived at Cosmo Canyon and the people had been happy to clean his clothes for him as well, except of course for the cloak which Cloud still had wrapped around him. Cloud tried to roll out of bed, but his muscles shook from the effort and he scowled at his traitorous body. It shouldn't take this long to heal, should it? He suddenly realized he couldn't remember what he was healing from and the thought made him freeze for a second.

Vincent watched his friend catch hold of the bed as his feet touched the floor and stand for a moment, waiting for his legs to stop shaking. Then his shoulders hunched suddenly and his eyes took on a wild look as he turned toward the ex-Turk, the blue glow flaring more brightly as some intense emotion danced fleetingly across his features. Cloud grimaced and straightened angrily. He wobbled, but Vincent refrained from helping him, knowing he wouldn't appreciate it. This was a matter of pride. Cloud obviously wanted to get around on his own and wouldn't take no for an answer, not even from a body weakened by all that had been done to it during the past few weeks.

Cloud turned blazing eyes on the ex-Turk, daring him to say anything. Vincent had the grace to wait and the SOLDIER nodded slowly and hobbled across the room to the steps that led up to old man Bugenhagen's bedroom. Here he stopped, considering how he was going to manage. Finally he shrugged and, leaning heavily against the wall to keep from falling, dragged himself one step at a time up the stairs into the cramped little bedroom and over to the claw foot bathtub. Vincent, who had followed surreptitiously just in case, crossed the room to grab a couple of towels from a cupboard. He left them on a small wooden table near the tub, started the water to get it heated and quietly left the room.

Cloud almost fell into the bathtub when it was full and sank up to his chin in the hot water. Every muscle ached abominably though he found no visible wounds; only a small bruise on his left hand. He rubbed at it absently, wondering how he'd gotten it, when a sudden intense flash of pain made him wince. Vague images skittered across his mind's eye like spiders across a webwork of fiery green and he inhaled sharply, staring at the tiny bruise. Was that blood oozing from it? He touched the fluid. It was more black then red and when he touched it pinwheels exploded briefly behind his eyes. What the heck? Cloud stared at it a moment longer, then shrugged. It would heal, he reminded himself, just like every other wound had; except for the ones in his heart. He tried to remember how he'd gotten here but the information refused to come. He frowned and closed his eyes, letting the hot water ease sore muscles as he tried to think.

The last thing he remembered clearly was riding out of North Corel after making a complete fool of himself with Barret and Cid. He had meant to ride past Cosmo Canyon and skirt Nibelheim and Rocket Town as well, ignoring all the little villages in between, and just go straight to Wutai to find out what Yuffie wanted. So what happened? Cloud thought hard and slowly, almost reluctantly, the memories started to surface, one by one. A bat sliced in two by his sword, but not by his will. Sephiroth's eyes looking back at him from the surface of the water. Monsters attacking and someone else's voice cursing from his lips. Then nothing. He took a deep breath and pulled his entire body under the water, letting the hot liquid slip through his greasy hair. He scrubbed furiously at it, then came up for breath and looked around for some soap. There was a bar sitting on the little table with the towels and he smiled briefly at Vincent's forethought. Trust him to know what Cloud might forget. He grabbed the soap and began a thorough scrubbing of his entire body, twice, before he was forced to come out, a bit dizzy from the heat.

His hands and feet looked like prunes by the time he got hold of the towel and dried himself off. Then he noticed that there was no change of clothes. Frowning, he wrapped the damp towel around his waist and started cautiously down the stairs, hair dripping water down his shoulders and back, even though he'd dried it as best he could. It was longer than he remembered it being, which was weird. He'd have to ask his friends, though they didn't seem inclined to talk at the moment. He found himself wondering why and abruptly an image of Sephiroth's face flashed into his mind. Cloud stumbled and almost fell the last two steps. He could see Vincent and Red running toward him and fear welled up inside his chest. He was going to kill them! His breath caught in his throat and he shut his eyes against the vivid memories, trying to swallow the lump of fear that threatened to suffocate him. But… that was just a dream, wasn't it?

No! It had happened. He recalled hands that were his-yet-not-his reaching out, ready to strike. There was fear, not for himself but for his friends.

_Hurry, you have to kill me now! I can't hold him much longer!_

Cloud grabbed his head.

_Die! Die! Ha ha ha! Sephiroth can take your dead body!_ Hands tightening around his throat, cackling laughter in his head, and Jenova. Cloud hissed as the images assaulted his senses. Blackness, like some horrible monster of darkness, threatened to swallow him up and he felt himself falling into it.

The sound of a door opening and closing with a thump almost made him drop to the floor with relief. He straightened and blinked several times, trying to force the vivid images to the back of his mind. He couldn't deal with this right now! He took a deep breath and, forcing himself to act as normal as he could, stumbled around the corner.

Marcus grinned at Cloud as he appeared from old man Bugenhagen's room with nothing but a towel on. The Cosmo Canyon guard was carrying a tray of food and drinks which he set on the table with a flourish.

"Glad to see you up and about," he said, eyeing Cloud for any signs of the mysterious illness that had nearly killed him only a week ago. He was surprised and pleased to see that very little of the unnatural paleness remained. Cloud's eyes were clear, glittering in a strange way, as if lit from within. He'd never seen a SOLDIER before, but he'd heard of them and knew this was a side affect of the process, so he wasn't really bothered by it, just fascinated. Cloud averted his eyes, obviously uncomfortable, and he quickly looked away.

"Oh! Sorry about that," he apologized. "I've just never seen a real SOLDIER before."

He went to the cupboard and pulled out some fresh blankets, figuring now was as good a time as any to change the rumpled bedding. "Have some food. There's no potion in the tea this time," he added when he saw Cloud looking suspiciously at the mugs. He chuckled as relief replaced suspicion on the young man's face. Vincent tossed Cloud a change of clothes with something that almost looked like a smirk. Cloud blushed, grabbed them out of midair and hurriedly slipped on the oversized shirt and drawstring pants. They weren't Vincent's and just as obviously couldn't have been Bugenhagen's either, since the old man had been even smaller than Cloud. He looked at Marcus with an appraising eye and the man sent him a mischievous grin.

"Thought you might want to change when we finally got a chance to clean your clothes." He nodded briefly as he tucked in the last blanket. "Sorry about the fit, but the closest to your size was one of the women and we didn't think you'd want to wear a dress."

Cloud made a face, remembering the time he'd actually _had_ to wear a dress. He held out the wet towel and Marcus took it without a word, throwing a smile back over his shoulder as he left. When he was gone, the blonde wandered over to the table and sat down. There were bowls of what looked like stew, a small loaf of bread, and the mugs of tea. It smelled good and he dug in with relish. Vincent joined him, but when Cloud looked around he realized Red was missing. He raised an eyebrow at the ex-Turk who seemed to know exactly what he was thinking.

"Red XIII went down to make his rounds," then added as an afterthought, "He is still guardian of Cosmo Canyon."

Cloud nodded and took a bite of the bread. It was still warm from the oven and tasted like heaven. His stomach felt like it hadn't had anything in it for weeks, which was probably true he realized, frowning. His eyes shifted surreptitiously toward his quiet companion and he debated asking. Finally he shrugged. Might as well. The worst that could happen was the dark haired man could refuse… or maybe tell him. He didn't know which would be worse, come to think of it, and that was depressing.

"How long have I been here?" He forced himself not to stare at the man next to him, though his eyes slipped sideways to gauge his reaction to the question.

Vincent seemed to ponder a moment, before he said, "One week." The ex-Turk brought the bowl of stew up to his mouth and began ladling it in as if all his interest was focused on food and not what his companion was asking. It was a form of brush off, Cloud knew. But still… a whole week! Cloud thought back to when he dropped off Barret's present then backtracked to when he left Midgar. It had been at least three weeks since he left Tifa! She was going to kill him! Fear showed briefly in his eyes as he thought what he could say to her. Heck, he didn't even know himself. How could he explain it to her?

Wait! If he'd been here in Cosmo Canyon a week, then how long had it been since the nightmare at Nibelheim? He knew that was where he'd tried to kill Kisari and his friends. Even fragmented as his memories were, there was no doubt in his mind, for he couldn't erase the feel of the reactor; the heavy smell of Mako like some oily substance clinging to the machinery and lingering in the air, almost too thick to breathe. Somehow he had made his way from North Corel to Nibelheim, which should've taken a few days at the very least and then Vincent and Red had brought him here to Cosmo Canyon, at least another couple days ride by chocobo. So how long had he actually been away? Probably more than a month, even by his own faulty reckoning. His chest tightened.

"I see," was all that escaped his lips. What could he say? Vincent couldn't tell him what happened during those missing days, could he? "How…?" But he couldn't finish the question. It locked in his throat and again the images of Sephiroth flashed behind his eyes. Aeris was there too and… Zack? Something suddenly hit him in the stomach and he hunched over, letting the bread drop to his plate as he closed his eyes and tried not to be sick. Pain - not physical, but emotional - struck him like a ten ton weight. Why? Why did he feel as if he'd lost something important when he thought of his old friend? He knew Zack was dead. He'd watched him die. So why did it feel as if he'd just watched him die… again?

Concerned, Vincent leaned forward, prepared to catch the blonde SOLDIER if he fell. He didn't look weak however; just disoriented and in pain. He studied his friend's grief stricken features and wondered what was wrong. Without thinking, his hand moved across to gently grip Cloud's shoulder, shaking him from whatever waking nightmare he was experiencing. Cloud looked up through half lidded eyes that glowed brightly, as if enhanced by emotion or tears. But no tears appeared, only the liquid reflection of them.

"Are you alright?" he asked, hating himself for being unable to offer more than his own cold voice and unwanted hand as comfort. Cloud shook his head and briefly clasped the hand on his shoulder, surprising Vincent. It felt… nice.

"No, I don't think so," Cloud admitted reluctantly. "I suddenly feel… empty. Like I've lost something important to me, but I don't know what it is." He looked confused.

Vincent bit his lip and withdrew his hand, feeling like he had reached toward the sun and been welcomed instead of burned. He stared at his hand a moment, before letting it fall into his lap.

"Sephiroth," Cloud whispered, so low that Vincent almost missed it even with his sensitive hearing. "He took my body," he continued slowly, lost in contemplation, eyes closed as he tried to remember, sifting through the fragments that jostled inside his head. "I tried to kill Kisari." He stopped, grimacing, then glanced at the door. The gold chocobo was curled up on the doorstep asleep and a faint smile touched his lips briefly. "Thank the Planet I didn't." He looked up at Vincent. "You said I killed Hojo. How?"

Vincent shook his head, long black hair shifting across glowing red eyes like a curtain. Cloud sucked in his breath as he remembered the features of the girl in his dreams.

"Red and I only saw the monsters infected by him turn to ash. When we found you, Hojo was gone, like the monsters, and you had already lost consciousness." He didn't want to say more about that, so he finished simply with, "Then we carried you here and tried our best to heal you."

Vincent turned back to his stew. It was getting cold and he no longer had any interest in eating it. Apparently neither did Cloud because he pushed the bowl away from him and stared at his hands held loosely in his lap.

"That's all?" He didn't look Vincent in the eye, didn't demand anything more. It was just a question. Vincent knew what he was asking though and took a moment before he nodded.

"Pretty much."

Cloud nodded. He rose from the chair and staggered, hand going to his head as the world tried to spin out of control. There was some pain, but mostly he was just really tired. He stumbled back to the bed and fell into it, asleep before his head even hit the pillow. Vincent followed, looking at his still form a long moment before he reached down, gently lifted his legs onto the bed then settled the blanket across his sleeping friend. He sat on the chair which had been his accustomed place for the past week and considered what had been said, and what had not. Cloud obviously suspected something. Perhaps he remembered bits and pieces of what happened to him and was trying to make sense of them, as he had with his tortured mind during their journey to stop Meteor.

Once more he found himself wondering at his decision to keep quiet about what happened with Sephiroth. Cloud deserved to know, so why did he feel so reluctant? Did he think Cloud couldn't handle the truth? No, that wasn't right. He had accepted worse truths in the past. Then why? He couldn't answer that, but each time he considered telling Cloud, his gut clenched up and a voice in the back of his head laughed at his indecision. Later, he decided finally, pushing it to the back of his mind. He closed his eyes and fell into a light doze, the sound of Cloud's soft breathing in his ears.

* * *

The man in the dark suit and tie, long black hair pulled back in a pony tail, tapped lightly on the metal door in front of him with one hand, a mythril bracelet inlaid with gold and set with a small crystal the color of flames held delicately in the other. He stepped back and waited.

"Enter," a melodious tenor answered.

Tseng turned the knob and opened the door slowly. Glancing around the room he quickly spotted the President sitting in his wheelchair, staring out the picture window toward the road that wound its way up through the various facilities of Healin Lodge. Rufus was shrouded in a blanket, hiding the numerous injuries he'd sustained when Diamond Weapon blew the top of the Shinra Headquarters building into little more than scrap metal. Tseng had nearly had a heart attack when Reno and Rude appeared outside Midgar, followed by Elena, carrying the young President on a makeshift stretcher, his body so covered in blood that at first the Turk leader wasn't sure he was still alive. Elena had been using Cure Materia on him almost non-stop since the three of them discovered him in the stairwell, where he had apparently been blown by the force of Diamond Weapon's attack.

Then it was a crazy flight in the company helicopter to Healin Lodge, Turks scurrying like ants in an upset anthill as Tseng fired orders at them, quickly preparing a room with a hospital bed to receive the critically injured President, others flying off to commandeer the best doctors they could find, while the few who had healing Materia hovered nearby just in case. Phoenix Down had been required more than once when he started to slip away and Tseng had chewed his lip to shreds before they got him stabilized. Looking at Rufus now, the Turk leader gave a quiet sigh of relief. The glass and metal fragments that had sliced through the young man's body, face, and hands hadn't left any scars that the healing Materia couldn't fix and luckily the one eye that had been nicked by a sliver of glass was healing fine. The doctors said he would recover full use of it.

"Tseng?"

Rufus turned his chair from the window and stared at him a long moment. Only his mouth could be seen beneath the blanket, which served to keep him warm and stave off the light which seemed to bother his eyes. The medics had said it was natural for this sort of sensitivity to occur after such a violent explosion experienced in close proximity to the eyes and that it would eventually pass. He looked like a fallen angel to Tseng, wrapped all in white, the halo of light shining behind him only serving to reinforce that impression. The Turk leader jerked out of his reverie and stepped forward, holding out the bracelet.

"The lab techs finished it, as per your orders, sir," he announced, setting the bracelet with its fiery crystal on the President's desk. Rufus stretched out his bandaged left hand to touch the sleek surface. This was the result of Cloud's private commission, the flame shaped crystal from the Mythril Mines, a crystal with the ability to make things float, a sort of anti-gravity Materia that could come in useful. That is, if the notes his scientists had stolen from Hojo's labs were correct. Unfortunately the crystal was rare, so even if it did work, it would be limited in its uses unless they could somehow create an artificial one. Of course, that was only part of the reason he had called upon the ex-mercenary. He frowned briefly as he remembered the blonde looking fixedly up at him from the Healin Lodge sign, as if he knew Rufus was there, even though there was no way he could've seen him behind the thick, reflective plate glass. He sighed and looked up at Tseng.

"Very good," he said, letting the blanket cover his hand again. The wounds ached and a new bruise had begun to spread on his right hand which occasionally flared up into moments of sheer agony. He rubbed it absently against his leg then stopped when it answered him with a sharp lancing pain. He closed his eye, the other one was bandaged shut, though the muscles tried to respond. Rufus decided to have the doctors check it as soon as Tseng left.

"What have you learned about Midgar?" he asked, lowering his head so the Turk couldn't see the pain which flickered across his features.

Tseng settled into an "at ease" position, hands clasped behind his back, feet spread slightly apart, and nodded.

"Reeve sent more troops to Kalm and two other fishing communities nearby. The rabid monster attacks they've been reporting seem to have decreased since last week, though no one's quite sure what caused the unusual activity. The mercenaries you asked for are slowly being assembled at Junon and we are attempting to make contact with any soldiers who are still loyal to Shinra." He cocked his head ever so slightly. Rufus had barely risen from his death bed and he was already contemplating the restoration of the planet under Shinra rule. "Also, the Mayor has apparently been combing the ruins of the Shinra Headquarters building for information. Our informants tell us that he was searching for files specific to your mother, father and his private secretary from about twenty one years ago." He waited to let that sink in. It didn't take long.

"About the time I was born?" Rufus narrowed his eyes, wondering why the new Mayor would be interested in past history like that. "What did he find?" He knew Tseng would at least have a preliminary report, if not the full details. He wasn't disappointed.

"We checked that and believe we've come up with the answer, though it seems rather far fetched." The Turk leader shifted ever so slightly on his feet and Rufus looked up at him from beneath the concealing blanket, curious what could make a man like Tseng nervous. "It seems my predecessor, Veld, was ordered to fly the president's private secretary to Healin Lodge on the day you were born. He then made arrangements to transport her and a baby to the small village of Nibelheim in the western continent where she was given paid leave for life. She settled down there in the guise of a widow and raised a son which could not have been hers, as she was never pregnant." He paused and Rufus' thoughts raced ahead of him, coming to the conclusion just as his bodyguard said it.

"It's believed that the son she raised was the president's."

Rufus' head flew up and the blanket shifted enough to reveal his startled face, pale lips drawn in controlled pain. The blonde's unbandaged eye looked steadily at him, not with the same intensity as a certain blue eyed SOLDIER they both knew, but enough that Tseng wondered why he hadn't made the connection himself.

"The president's… son?" Rufus' mind spun briefly as he thought about who he knew that might've lived in Nibelheim at that time. There wasn't anyone he remembered that held any particular attention from his father, but… "My brother." It sounded more like a statement than a question, but Tseng nodded.

"Apparently your mother had twins, at least according to the few records we've been able to copy or steal. The doctors were ordered to keep it secret, even from your mother, and the younger of them was sent away, possibly to avoid any problems arising about who the rightful heir was. Of course, knowing the president, it's just as possible that he decided to keep both heirs alive but in separate places; one as backup in case the other died early or failed him in some way."

Rufus nodded, pulling the blanket back over his face to keep the light from hurting his eyes and to hide his expression from the Turk as his mind leaped forward. It sounded like something his father would do. But what had happened to his supposed brother and why was Reeve looking for information about him now? Blackmail? No, he didn't even know Rufus had survived the destruction of the Shinra building. He'd made sure of that. Only his loyal Turks knew. All the doctors who had attended him had become permanent residents of Healin Lodge. Even the mercenaries he was trying to hire didn't know who was behind the funding.

"Why?"

Tseng seemed to understand what he was asking. "You mean Reeve?"

The President tilted his head and tapped his fingers on the arm of the wheelchair.

"Yes."

Tseng wiped his hands on his pants legs, then let them hang at his sides and answered softly, "Because your brother, apparently, is Cloud Strife."

Rufus' hands clenched the wheelchair so tightly that the knuckles turned white and an answering ache echoed through the right one. He forced them to relax and thought about it.

"I see." It all seemed to fit, but it was a bit disconcerting. He remembered the first time he met the supposed ex-SOLDIER, right after his father was killed by Sephiroth. There had been… something. But this? "You're certain this information is correct?" He didn't trust anything at face value, no matter how logical it might seem on the surface.

"We checked all the records available, including some found here which Reeve had no access to. The secretary was in fact flown here on the day of your birth and did leave with a newborn baby. Turks were then regularly assigned to Nibelheim during the next sixteen years and sent reports on the same secretary, one Maia Hana Storife, aka Hana Strife, mother of one Cloud Strife. Reports stopped shortly after the Nibelheim Incident."

Tseng's mouth tightened as he remembered the hell he'd seen in the reactor after the "Incident." Cloud, to all appearances, was dead when Tseng reported the Turks' findings to Professor Hojo, yet the man still instructed his lab techs to take both Zack and Cloud's body to the Shinra Mansion as specimens. The realization of what President Shinra had put his own son through at the hands of Hojo and his sadistic minions during those five years before Zack broke them out and died for his efforts made Tseng feel physically ill. Being a Turk, he didn't tend to have a weak stomach where torture and death were concerned, but somehow this seemed different. Even he had limits when it came to family, although apparently the previous president Shinra hadn't.

Rufus leaned back, contemplating the information. The time coincided with when Sephiroth burned the village to the ground, killing everyone. Well, not everyone, though that wasn't at first known to any but Hojo, his scientists, the Turks, and of course the president himself. Old man Shinra had to have had knowledge of what Hojo was doing up there or the funding for all those ridiculous projects of his wouldn't have been made available. And that brought up another question. Rufus had been made Vice President at about the same time. Did that mean his father thought the other son - Cloud, if Tseng was right - was dead? Or worse, had he actually allowed Cloud to become a specimen for the little creep's experiments? Interesting idea and not altogether implausible. He didn't need him anymore, right? Of course Hojo, the rat, could've told him that Cloud died and he might have written him off without knowing any better; just a case of misinformation.

Or maybe Cloud had seen too much and couldn't be allowed to stay free with such information? He smirked at the idea. What could Cloud have seen that he, Rufus, hadn't learned during his life in Midgar as his father's heir? All the shady projects and dirty little deals that made the infamous Shinra Company maintain its control over more than half the world had been at Rufus' fingertips. There was nothing Cloud could've learned that Rufus didn't already know. He frowned. Nothing except the truth about Jenova. He still didn't know much about that aspect, even now after so much had happened to the Planet.

Rufus shifted his hand as it started to ache again and scowled. So… he had a brother. And it was Cloud, of all people. He wanted to laugh out loud at the irony, wondering what the would-be ex-SOLDIER would say if he found out he was a Shinra, one of the very people he hated. Probably kill himself from shame. But… the information had interesting possibilities and Rufus found himself considering how he might use it to his advantage. It would probably sew a few seeds of distrust among the Avalanche group, perhaps force Cloud into his camp by default. He'd make a strong ally, that's for sure. The Turks had reported that it was Cloud who killed Sephiroth, a noteworthy feat in and of itself, not including the fact that he had eluded Shinra soldiers the entire time and even earned the respect of Rude and Reno. For now, however, he wanted the information kept quiet until it would do the most good, for him. Of course, that was assuming that Reeve kept his mouth shut. No guarantee there.

"Have your people keep an eye on Reeve. I want to know if he says anything. Also, watch Cloud and the others for reactions." He turned back to look out the window and changed the subject. "Have the bracelet tested in the field. Find out how effective it is. Also, check with the techs and see if they can affix it to something larger than personal armor or weapons, like a truck or a tank."

Tseng stepped forward and picked up the bracelet. He gave a brief bow and was starting toward the door when Rufus' voice stopped him.

"Oh, and send in Doctor Riley."

The Turk glanced back at his president, concern written in his eyes, but all he could see was the back of the wheelchair and part of the blanket trailing down from Rufus' arm. He wanted to ask, but knew that the President would tell him only if it suited him. He finally nodded and left, closing the door quietly behind him.

Rufus listened as the door closed, then sighed. He shut his eyes as a brief stab of pain shot through his fingers and up his arm. His fingers jerked against his will, twitching, and he gritted his teeth and swore softly.


	19. Chapter 19

238

Nineteen…

The next morning, Cloud awoke feeling more refreshed than he had all week. He carefully threw the blankets aside and slid his legs around until he was sitting up in bed. He was still wearing the loose shirt and drawstring pants the Cosmo Canyon guard, Marcus, had loaned him. He just hoped his clothes would be clean soon. The loose garments made him feel uncomfortably like a child trying to wear his father's clothes. Of course, he'd never known his father, but the analogy still made him feel uncomfortable. He'd always been small and picked on because of it. There was no way in hell he wanted to be reminded of how that had felt!

There was a stirring from the shadows near the table and Cloud's head jerked up, glancing sharply at Vincent as he shifted in his seat near the wall. He looked like he had actually been sleeping at the table! Cloud's brows raised under the flyaway bangs, which flopped everywhere but where he wanted them to. The ex-Turk's glowing red eyes actually seemed… sheepish. Cloud touched his forehead briefly, wondering if he was still feverish. Vincent didn't do sheepish. When he looked up again, the dark haired man was back to his normal distant self. Though, for some reason Cloud couldn't explain, there was an air of warmth there he hadn't felt before. Vincent crossed the room and sat on the chair by the bed, looking carefully into the blonde's eyes. He carefully pulled his glove off with his clawed hand – Cloud didn't know how he managed to do that without ripping the leather - and started to reach out to touch Cloud's forehead, then hesitated and waited for permission. Cloud slowly removed his own hand and nodded. Vincent's palm and fingers were cool and oddly gentle and he found himself leaning into the touch briefly before the hand was pulled away again.

"The fever seems to be gone," Vincent said in a velvety baritone voice.

Cloud shivered. The voice seemed to echo in his bones, but he wondered why he would react to it like this now. He'd worked with Vincent for months while chasing after Sephiroth and Jenova, and he knew that voice as surely as he knew his own. But the faint echo inside his head remembered a similar voice that had spoken through his own mouth - Sephiroth's voice - and for some reason, it felt… the same? He shot Vincent a quick appraising look and remembered other times this thought had slipped into his mind. Could Vincent actually be Sephiroth's father? Obviously the ex-Shinra General looked nothing like his supposed father, Hojo. And even though Cloud had heard Hojo claim him as his son, admitting gleefully that Sephiroth didn't even know it, something just felt wrong every time Cloud compared them in his mind.

Glowing blue eyes studied Vincent surreptitiously. The face, high cheekbones and pursed lips, were very like his memories of the General. He tried to imagine Vincent with silver hair, not as difficult as he'd thought it would be, and the image fit perfectly. He wondered if Vincent guessed it himself? Or was love blinded in more ways than one?

"Guess so," he managed, turning away when he felt Vincent returning his scrutiny with a raised eyebrow. Cloud's eyes searched for something less volatile and settled on the gold chocobo sitting in the doorway. Some of the students had taken it upon themselves to make a bed of straw for her and after Vincent told them what she ate, had also gone to gather some of the choicer grasses growing just outside the gate. Her saddlebags and bridle were on the floor at the head of his borrowed bed.

Cloud rose carefully, aware that Vincent was near enough to catch him if he fell, but distant enough to let him try on his own. He was grateful for both. Hobbling to the door, he looked fondly at the gold chocobo who'd shared so many adventures with him. Kisari jumped up as he reached her and began pecking excitedly at his hair and shoulders, reassuring herself that he was really alright. He laughed quietly, nearly falling over from her exuberant ministrations. She stopped when she realized how shaky he was and he leaned unsteadily against her, giving her a vigorous scratching on the neck. Kisari warbled happily and stretched as he slowly worked his way from her neck, down her shoulders and across her back. When he finally came back around, scratching the other side just as thoroughly, she sighed and closed her eyes, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Sorry I worried you, Kisari," he whispered to her. She looked good, he noticed. Somebody had been grooming her. Not a single feather was out of place and her skin had a pale pink shine through the golden plumage. "You look good." Kisari bobbed her head and looked through the low door to where the dark haired ex-Turk stood beside the bed. Cloud followed her gaze and bowed his head in silent thanks.

Vincent abruptly looked down at his hands, unable to keep eye contact with the blonde. His claw couldn't feel anything really, but sometimes it seemed as if it did, and right now it was tingling faintly. He remembered how it had felt to touch Cloud and be touched in return; not as one warrior to another during battle or healing, but as friend to friend. It made him want more and he felt ill at ease in Cloud's presence, not knowing what to do with these new feelings. It wasn't love or attraction. But it wasn't just companionship either. For the first time in his life since Lucrecia, he realized that he wanted to protect someone and that knowledge both disturbed and thrilled him. He didn't know what to do with it, along with so many other feelings, and so he turned away, walking back to the table, ostensibly to check out the food Marcus had brought a few hours earlier. Surreptitiously he let his eyes slip sideways beneath his long bangs to study his friend.

Cloud finished patting Kisari, ruffling her head feathers. Then he sighed and stumbled back to the bed. He stood there, wavering as he tried to decide if he really wanted to lie back down on the bed or not. His lips twitched irritably and Vincent bit back a smile. The blonde shook his head finally and instead walked cautiously over to the table to join Vincent. His eyes were a bit too bright for the ex-Turk's comfort, showing the SOLDIER'S weariness more than his actions did, but he said nothing, merely sat at the table in companionable silence as Cloud looked over the simple fare. He finally settled on a sandwich and took a small bite, chewing with a contemplative look on his face. He looked up suddenly, Mako blue eyes catching blood red ones, and Vincent froze as a vague feeling of dread filled him.

Cloud saw it and gave a small smile. He shook his head.

"It's not that bad, is it?" he asked quietly.

"Depends," Vincent managed, keeping still just in case. He knew Cloud wanted to ask something and was pretty sure he didn't want to answer it, but he couldn't just summarily cut his friend off either. He tipped his head, waiting.

"You said I destroyed Hojo, and that Sephiroth is… sleeping?" Cloud waited for Vincent to confirm. The ex-Turk blinked, not exactly what he was looking for. He continued, "I remember Sephiroth taking over my body and trying to kill you, but…" Cloud turned away, biting his lip as he tried to drag the broken images out of his reluctant mind. "After that… I don't remember anything." He sent a measuring look Vincent's way, gauging his reaction. When the dark haired man made no move to answer, he sighed and took another small bite of the sandwich. It tasted dry in his mouth and he took a sip from the mug of tea, grimacing.

Vincent looked at his hands for a long moment, thinking of how he should answer his friend. But that note of doubt still preyed upon his mind and he couldn't force the words past it. Instead, all he managed was, "When you changed back, he… vanished. Dead or asleep, it makes no difference if he no longer controls you." He felt Cloud's eyes on him; half suspicious that he was hiding something, and half wanting to believe him. It hurt, but he tried to believe it wasn't a lie he had spoken and that the Sephiroth he'd seen would indeed present no threat in the future.

Cloud nodded once and returned to eating in silence, thinking about what he had pieced together on his own and this new bit of information. He concentrated, trying to locate the thread of Sephiroth he'd felt in his mind. It was still there, faint but certain. He wondered what it meant, for the presence he felt in his mind didn't feel threatening. It didn't seem intent on controlling him, nor did it seem hostile in any way. It rested deep within his consciousness, sleeping, just like Vincent had said. Cloud sighed again softly then rose and walked to the bed. He knelt beside the headboard where the saddlebags were, opened them and began sorting through what had survived. The greens were entirely gone and he made a mental note to buy more before he continued his journey to Wutai. His own rations were gone too. Another mental note. His jaw clenched when an image of uncounted monsters attacking him flashed across his mind's eye and he pulled out the sharpening stone and cloth and went to where his Buster Sword lay propped up against the wall, just behind the door.

His muscles complained a bit when he picked it up, but he ignored them and sat down on the bed. Bringing up the blade to eye level, he glanced down the length of it, looking for damage; nicks or scrapes that might affect its performance. Satisfied after a thorough examination, he began sliding the stone across the blade in long strokes, putting a sharper edge on it than it already held. The feel of it in his hands calmed his mind and he let the familiar motions of polishing and cleaning the great weapon numb his worries. An hour later, satisfied with his work, Cloud stood and took a practice swing, cutting air with a soft swishing sound. Vincent watched, gauging his friend's strength, and nodded quietly to himself. Cloud was nearly completely healed. What he needed now was to build back his stamina which, considering his Mako enhanced body, would probably take no time at all.

That night, Cloud stood just outside the door and looked up at the evening sky. The stars were starting to come out and he spotted Red making his way up the rope ladder. It was kind of funny to watch a creature so large climbing a manmade rope ladder with paws instead of hands. But the beast managed to look graceful as he worked his way to the top, hopped out of the hole and padded over to where Cloud stood.

Red looked up into Cloud's glowing blue eyes and wondered, not for the first time, whether the glow made it harder to see in the dark or easier. The ex-SOLDIER had never seemed to have any trouble when they traveled through the dark caves of the Northern Crater though, so he guessed not. Maybe it was like a flashlight aimed outward. It would be quite an advantage, if it was.

"Cloud," he greeted quietly as he drew close. He sat at the ex-SOLDIER'S feet and turned to follow his gaze upwards.

"It's difficult to believe something so evil could have come from something so beautiful," Cloud murmured, so softly that Red's ears almost didn't register the words. He stared at the familiar vista of stars as they trailed away across the horizon; some densely packed together while others wandered off alone, bright and hard. Like Materia crystals, Red realized. They even had colors; red, yellow and blue. He thought of Jenova and shuddered.

"Yes," Red rumbled. "The greatest evil can come from that which appears innocent and beautiful. I suppose those are the most dangerous kind, since they are often the hardest to recognize."

He looked up at Cloud's profile. The starlight bleached his golden hair to silver, frosting his brows and lashes, and Red sucked in his breath at the image. He looked like an angel drawn here from the stars or, Red thought, like Sephiroth; only where the Shinra General had been dark and destructive, Cloud shone with a pure light. Red shook his head and turned away, catching Vincent staring at Cloud as well. He saw something in those blood colored eyes and guessed the man was probably thinking along the same lines, though he would not say it. Red sniffed, then turned slightly and inhaled deeply, breathing something both familiar and surprising. It was Cloud, but it was also Cetra; the scent he had smelled coming from his friend when he was unconscious, fighting the Jenova in his body. But why would Cloud smell like an Ancient? He had no answer to that and it bothered him.

Cloud sighed softly and turned to enter the house. Vincent jerked, as if awakening from a dream, and turned away quickly, fiddling with his headband as if he was worried it might be falling off. Red felt a grin stretch his jaws as he padded across the floor to the table to see what Marcus had brought for dinner. Behind him he heard Cloud flop on the bed, shifting position until he was comfortable. Very soon after, his soft even breathing told the beast he had gone to sleep.

"How is the hunting?" Vincent asked quietly.

Red swallowed the piece of dried fish and turned to look at him. His toenails clicked on the wooden floor as he crossed to sit beside the ex-Turk, curling his tail around his feet to keep them warm. The flame at the tip flickered softly.

"Good," he was pleased to report. There was a pause in Cloud's breathing before it started up again and Red stared a moment at the man on the bed. "There have been no attacks or any sign of the infected monsters since…" he nodded at Cloud's sleeping form, though he wasn't sure now if he was actually asleep.

Vincent glanced at Cloud too then nodded curtly. He went to the cupboard and drew out his cloak, flipping it over his shoulders with practiced ease and buckling it in place around his neck. Marcus had delivered it cleaned and even pressed - or at least someone had tried to press it around all the tears and holes - the night before, along with Cloud's SOLDIER uniform, though he hadn't told the young man they were available just yet. He'd wanted to decide if Cloud was healed enough before letting him have the means to leave Cosmo Canyon. He settled down on the blanket and curled up against the growing cold. After a few minutes, he heard Red settle on the floor nearby.

The house grew quiet, save for the sounds of night animals and the soft breathing of his companions. Vincent found his mind wandering from Cloud to the missing clones and he frowned. There was something wrong there, he was sure. Anything that had to do with Hojo inevitably turned out to be bad and he expected no less of this particular problem. It bore watching and he would attend to it shortly. His mind shifted back to the vision of Cloud standing in the doorway, haloed in starlight like some kind of angel, and he felt more than heard a chuckle deep inside of him. Chaos was amused, he realized, not exactly pleased by the thought of the monster inside of him being interested in Cloud. The comment about _finding his wings_ echoed once more inside his head. Angrily, Vincent rolled over and drew the cloak tighter about his thin body.

Two hours later he awoke. The house was silent except for the soft breathing of Cloud and the occasional whine or growl from Red XIII as he dreamed. Even the night animals seemed to have fallen asleep. Vincent slowly raised his head and looked around. Red was lying on the small rug next to Cloud's bed, paw twitching as if he was trying to run in his sleep. Cloud lay on his back, one arm across his chest, the other flung over his head. His face was highlighted by alternating shadows and moonlight. It made him look very young and yet old at the same time, if that was possible. Vincent's lips compressed as he considered his decision. Something tugged his heart in an uncomfortable direction. He wanted to protect this man, against all his instincts and better judgment. Not since Lucrecia had he felt this way and it was disconcerting because he had tried very hard to avoid feeling anything for so long. He could still remember clearly the instant his heart had died; the moment when Lucrecia died. After that he had only known hatred; for Hojo, and for himself. He guessed that was an emotion, but not one he could be proud of. Too often, he had destroyed those he cared about and he didn't want to risk hurting anyone else ever again.

Velvet coated steel grated across his nerves, chuckling deep inside his mind; the voice of Chaos. He clenched his fists, metal scraping against metal as his claw hand reacted to impulses he didn't understand.

'_What do you know about Cloud?'_ Vincent growled, remembering their earlier conversation.

_OTHER THAN THAT YOU WISH TO PROTECT THE HUMAN?_ Vincent's eyes flared brightly as Chaos briefly looked through them at the sleeping blonde. _THERE IS MORE THERE THAN CAN BE SEEN WITH HUMAN EYES. MUCH MORE._

'_Like what?'_ Vincent was getting fed up with the monster's evasiveness. He felt lost, afloat amidst a swirling sea of foreign emotions and thoughts. There was a moment of true silence and the ex-Turk realized that the beast was actually considering before he answered.

_THE PLANET KNOWS. THE CALAMITY WILL TOO NOW, I SUSPECT. AS FOR ME, I WAS ONLY THERE FOR THE FINAL BATTLE. WHAT I SAW… IF THAT IS TO BE REPEATED, IT MAY WELL BE YOU WHO NEEDS PROTECTION,_ he finished on a thoughtful note. Vincent's eyes widened, but the beast had withdrawn and would say no more.

Vincent stared at Cloud, then shook his head and rose silently, headed for the door. It was time to leave. No matter what Chaos said, there were things he needed to check into. Two missing clones for one, and he also wanted to be sure there was no further sign of Hojo or his strange plague. Just because there were no infected monsters near Cosmo Canyon didn't mean they weren't still scattered throughout the continent. And there was no way he wanted Hojo's infection to create a repeat performance later on.

He had opened the door and was stepping outside into the cold starlit night, when a voice whispered softly behind him.

"Thank you."

Vincent turned to see Cloud's blue eyes glowing softly at him from the darkness of the room. He blinked, then nodded and vanished into the night. Closing his eyes, Cloud turned over and went back to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Red showed Cloud where his clothes were in the cupboard near the foot of the bed. He scowled when he realized they'd been there the previous evening and that Vincent had most likely known all along. Then he shrugged. He couldn't really hold it against the man to want to be cautious, especially after how bad he'd felt when he woke up that first day. He'd been unconscious for three days, and then in and out of it for at least two or three more. It was reason enough for his friends to be concerned.

Neatly folding Marcus' loner clothes, he left them on the bed, then pulled on his own pants, knitted vest and the various belts which held on his armor, Zack's SOLDIER belt, his scabbard, and the flap of cloth that wrapped around his left leg. After twitching the cloth so it didn't impede his movement, he grabbed the Buster Sword and sheathed it. Cloud then gathered up his few supplies which the Cosmo Canyon dwellers had kindly offered him at no cost, packed them carefully into the saddlebags and strapped them around Kisari's neck and shoulders, slipping the bridle loosely over her beak. He still felt weak, but he'd been resting long enough and besides, it was time to finish this delivery and go home.

Red watched from the door of his grandfather's house, sad to see his friend leave, but happy that he felt well enough to do so. He didn't even bother to worry over when Vincent had left. The man was silent as a ghost and even his sensitive ears hadn't heard the man leave.

"Come back," he said, "when you're not injured." His jaws opened in a wide canine grin. Cloud's lips quirked up slightly in return, very reminiscent of Vincent.

"I'll do that," he promised. "But I imagine Tifa's going to want to know what's taking me so long. I suppose I should call her to let her know where I am." He reached for his cell phone and frowned. He searched his other pocket then looked questioningly at Red. The great beast stared at him.

"I guess you lost it during the fight." He didn't elaborate on which fight that might be and Cloud didn't feel like trying to force an explanation out of him. "I can call her for you, if you wish. And no," Red reassured him, letting his tongue loll from his mouth in a grin, his single amber colored eye sparkling with mischief. "I won't tell her what happened. I'll just say you stopped over for a brief visit," He had noticed the flash of fear that crossed Cloud's eyes and knew what he was thinking before he even opened his mouth.

Cloud nodded, letting the concern fade from his eyes as gratitude replaced it. Hell, he didn't even know what to tell her when he got home, let alone now! At least he'd have some time to think of an appropriate excuse before he had to face her again. He turned and led Kisari down the hole and through the various flights of steps to the exit of Cosmo Canyon. Red followed him to the gate and watched him hop onto the chocobo's back. Several of the other denizens of Cosmo Canyon, including Marcus, gathered around Red to see him off. The blonde SOLDIER lifted a hand in farewell then leaned forward and Kisari took off, leaving a trail of dust behind her. By the time it settled, she was out of sight. Red XIII sighed and glanced at Marcus. The guard grinned and went back to his post while Red returned to the business of patrolling the Cosmo Canyon area. There were fewer monsters now, since the incident at Mt. Nibel, and no sign of the infected monsters at all. He prayed that that meant Hojo was gone for good, along with his plague, as Vincent had called it.


	20. Chapter 20

243

Twenty…

"You're late!" Yuffie greeted Cloud outside the village of Wutai. She was sitting on a large boulder when he rode up and she stood, fists on her hips, scowling down at him as he pulled Kisari to a stop and dismounted.

"Sorry," Cloud said softly. "Something came up. So what did you need me for?"

The ninja girl hopped down, reached into a hollow under the boulder and picked up an oversized bag that looked suspiciously like Cloud's old Materia bag. She handed it to him and the clinking sounds from inside it confirmed his guess. He gave her a puzzled look and she frowned.

"Stupid old goats!" she blurted angrily. "They don't want to go back to the old traditions! They'd rather spend the last days of their miserable little lives sitting comfy in their chairs selling souvenirs and stuff!"

Cloud looked at the Materia bag then back at Yuffie. "So what do you want me to do with this?" he asked.

"Take care of it for me, okay? They may think they've got it easy now, but when I'm the Lady of Wutai they'll either shape up or I'll kick them out!" Her dark eyes flashed and she kicked at the turf as if she was kicking somebody's backside.

Cloud gave a small smile. "I'm sure you will," he said. Walking around Kisari, he set the bag of Materia on the ground and opened the saddlebags. Yuffie continued angrily as he started to rearrange the supplies to make a counter to the weight of all the Materia.

"They are so full of it! I swear they're like a bunch of old biddies who've never seen a weapon before! And to think that Wutai once produced the proudest ninja clans ever!"

Cloud finished with the saddlebags. He tightened the straps, making sure that Kisari wasn't being pinched anywhere, then hopped onto the chocobo's back and looked down at the little ninja girl.

"When do you want these back?" he asked.

"I'll let you know." Yuffie tossed him a small bag of gil which Cloud caught easily, stuffing it into his belt pouch without even counting. "Just make sure nobody else uses it, except you guys of course," she amended quickly. Cloud nodded. He picked up the reins, settling himself in a comfortable position. Yuffie waved at him and ran back through the gates where she turned suddenly and shouted, "Oh! And call Tifa! I think she's worried about you!" With that, she was gone.

Cloud frowned after her. He hadn't bothered to buy a replacement phone and anyway, Red had said he'd call Tifa for him. That had been three days ago, so unless Yuffie had spoken with Tifa since then, things should be covered, for now. He turned Kisari away and headed back toward the Western Continent. He'd toyed with the idea of crossing the ocean between Wutai and the Eastern Continent, making a much shorter trip to Midgar, but with all the added weight of the Materia he decided not to chance it. Gold chocobos could cross large bodies of water when necessary. Not an entirely comfortable ride, but definitely quicker. But now… he didn't really feel like putting Kisari through that, or himself, he added truthfully. He was dragging his heels on purpose and he knew it, but there was something about the missing time between his delivery to Barret in North Corel and awakening in Cosmo Canyon that he needed to straighten out in his head. The images he'd gotten, while recuperating in Bugenhagen's house with Red and Vincent, remained little more than confusing fragments that he was still trying to piece together.

That night, Cloud camped in the field several kilometers south of Rocket Town. The trip along the narrow hills of the island and across the strait of shallow water had been uneventful, but tiring nonetheless. He guessed he wasn't completely healed and the bruise on his left hand was a sore reminder of the battle he couldn't remember. It twinged occasionally, sending sharp pains up his arm, at times so powerful that he jerked in surprise. The bruise seemed to be growing too, which didn't make any sense to him. It should have vanished by now. Perhaps it had something to do with swallowing Jenova's flesh. He shuddered, closing his eyes at the thought. He didn't remember it, which was probably for the best, but just imagining it made him feel sick.

He stripped the now heavy saddlebags off of Kisari and set them down nearby, then pulled the Buster Sword from its sheath and grabbed a blanket from the saddlebags. Walking over to a nearby mound of earth, he tossed the blanket over his shoulders and settled into a comfortable position on the ground. The gold chocobo tilted her head at him, as if checking to see that he was doing alright before she wandered off to forage through the choicer grasses growing in hummocks nearby. Cloud sighed. She'd been keeping close tabs on him the last few days and he often found her snuggled up next to him when he woke in the morning, her warm feathered body keeping him familiar company. A flash of nights spent in the hold of the ship crossing from Junon to Costa del Sol made his lips quirk up in a slight smile. Then he frowned. It reminded him of the dreams… nightmares rather.

He leaned back and stared at the stars, Zack's Buster Sword a reassuring weight in his hand as he thought about what he knew and what he'd heard, trying to make sense of it all. First, there were the dreams. He couldn't remember them very well, but he knew they had been about Sephiroth and they had been bad. Check. Next, he recalled his journey to the chocobo ranch where he traded Fenrir for Kisari. Check. Next was… Junon? No, Fort Condor. He remembered earthen walls and a concerned old man and visions of Hojo's head growing a body. But Fort Condor was way off the route he should've taken to the port in Junon for the trip across the ocean to North Corel.

And… Hojo? What the heck?

He knew he was carrying a present from Marlene for Barret's… birthday? Cloud's brows puckered as he tried to work his way through the murky swamp of memories. But every time he recalled the past, the images slipped away again, like his mind had turned to quicksand. He grabbed at the obvious memories though. Places, people, and feelings; fear was the main feeling he remembered. Cloud's eyes drifted shut unnoticed and he slept, his mind still trying to work out what was missing.

CLOUD… a quiet voice followed him, both concerned and amused. I WILL NEVER BECOME JUST A MEMORY.

"Die, die, die!" a crazed voice hissed gleefully in his ears. Cloud's heart froze at the sound. Air rushed like a roaring wind through his brain. No! It wasn't air; it was his lungs struggling for air. His blood was pumping frantically, lungs spasming as he fought to breathe, but something… someone… was preventing him. Maniacal laughter peeled in his ears and mind, and was joined by another more horrid voice which he knew all too well. Jenova! He was drowning while they laughed at him, horrible images tumbling through his oxygen starved brain; planets exploding, friends dying. Desperately he tried to hold on, knowing that if he let go all of this would come to pass. But the darkness opened its endless maw to swallow him and he felt himself weakening, falling, dying.

'Cloud,' a voice spoke softly in his mind. Someone was holding his shoulders, keeping him upright when all his body wanted to do was crumble to pieces. He thought maybe it was Vincent supporting him against the tidal waves of blackness that threatened his entire existence, but when he looked up the eyes staring back at him were green and slitted like a cat's. Shocked, he tried to pull away, but the arms pulled him closer, tucking him against the warmth of leather and skin. There was a laugh, both rough and gentle. This couldn't be right! What was Sephiroth doing in his dreams? And why was he holding Cloud as if to support him instead of trying to kill him? It didn't make any kind of sense and he desperately wanted it to because his heart was sinking fast, falling into the enemy's eyes as if the man was absorbing everything that made him who he was. But what frightened him most was the feeling that he wanted this. He had chosen to give his enemy everything freely, for some purpose he couldn't even fathom. All the love, anger, loss and hurt he had acquired during his years after Nibelheim, the friendships, everything… he had given his heart and soul to his enemy. But why?

"Don't worry," the voice rumbled reassuringly in his ears, vibrating through the broad chest against which he was held. The wind no longer roared in his head. It had grown still, as had the laughing voices. He couldn't even hear his own heartbeat. His body felt light, empty, and suddenly the arms lifted him up, holding him protectively like a mother holds her child. It felt reassuring somehow, though Cloud didn't know why. The powerful arms tightened almost possessively around him, he felt his mind spiraling downward, and then there was nothing.

Cloud jerked awake with a shout lodged in his throat. He stopped himself just before it burst forth. What the hell? He realized he was shivering in the blanket, though he didn't feel cold, and his hand was clenched so tightly around the hilt of the sword that he felt the pattern etching itself in his glove. Carefully he unlocked his fingers and set the sword between his knees, wrapping his arms around them and holding it in place as he tried to calm himself and think. Part of the dream - Hojo and Jenova laughing at him while he struggled for air, being strangled or drowning - felt right somehow. That had happened. He knew it, though his mind couldn't provide clear details no matter how hard he tried. But Sephiroth? Why was the man holding him, Cloud, as if he wanted to protect him? It didn't make any sense.

_But it does make sense, if you think about it_, a little voice in the back of his mind said.

'Why?' he asked himself.

_What would you give to save your friends and the Planet?_ The voice asked him calmly. He didn't have to think about it.

'My life,' he answered immediately.

_And that is what you did,_ it replied.

'…?'

"Wark?" Kisari's query jolted him out of his reverie and Cloud looked around guiltily. The gold chocobo was sitting next to him, warm feathers creating a shield against the night breeze. He pulled away to glance around their brief camp. The night was half over if his sense of time was still functioning correctly; not a guarantee, all things considered. With a sigh, Cloud got up and started folding the blanket. Kisari hopped up beside him and nipped playfully at his hair. He couldn't help but grin ever so slightly as he batted her away. He pushed the blanket into the one of the saddlebags and buckled it shut - slipping the Buster Sword into its sheath - then lifted the leather bags and set them with care across Kasari's shoulders, the large sword bumping reassuringly against his back. Making sure the straps and buckles were firmly secured without pinching the riding bird, Cloud glanced across the darkened landscape, wondering whose voice he had heard in his mind. It hadn't sounded like the one that gently coaxed him during his many adventures searching for Sephiroth and the Black Materia, neither did it grate across his nerves like Jenova's taunting one nor rip at his mind with Sephiroth's madness. Yet it was familiar to him somehow. As familiar as the past that eluded him in many respects even now and as reassuring as it had been then when he was young, afraid, and trying so desperately to… what?

Kisari sent him a curious look, black eyes glittering faintly in the moonlight at him as he stood with the reins in his hand. He shrugged, pushing the frustrating thoughts out of his mind, and hopped onto her back. Settling himself into a comfortable position behind the saddlebags, he tucked his knees into the warm golden feathers. He wanted to just curl up into the bird's feathers, covering himself in the warmth as he'd been covered in his dream by leather and powerful arms. Cloud jerked, shocked at where his thoughts were straying, and a searing pain shot up his left arm in answer to the sudden movement. He dropped the reins and stared at his left hand. Concerned, he pulled off his glove and looked at the bruise. It had already spread from his palm to his wrist. He scowled at it, wondering what it was and why the Jenova cells and Mako in his body hadn't healed it yet. Black blood oozed out in small droplets, which he quickly wiped away.

He pulled on his glove again, wincing at the answering pain in his hand, and leaned forward, gathering the reins up cautiously. Turning Kisari in the direction of Cosmo Canyon, he clicked his tongue and sent her off at a ground eating stride. He would turn before he reached the river and cut across toward the Gold Saucer. It wasn't that he wanted to avoid Red, he just wanted to finish this delivery and return home. Tifa would be worried, though he supposed Red XIII would have given her a good enough excuse that she shouldn't want to deck him one when he showed up. At least he hoped not. His lips quirked up briefly as he tucked his head down against the chocobo's neck, letting the gold feathers tickle his face. Tifa wanted him to settle down and now there were orphans he needed to take care of. Maybe she could help him with that. He decided to ask her as soon as he got back. He couldn't leave Elmyra all alone to handle his responsibilities and besides, he kind of liked the idea of helping the children. It would give purpose to his life; something he had lost after defeating Sephiroth, Jenova and Meteor.


	21. Chapter 21

249

Chapter 21…

Loz and Yazoo didn't realize they'd been ditched by Scarlet until after they left the abandoned village of Nibelheim and entered the nearby forest. But it didn't bother them much. She'd been their teacher and let them kill lots of monsters. She'd even taught them how to read and write so they could study about things like Materia uses and various sword techniques, though neither Loz nor Yazoo had any interest in sword fighting. Guns were Yazoo's favorite. He had a quick eye and a sure hand, able to put his shots where he wanted most of the time, whiles Loz favored the Dual Hound Scarlet had presented him halfway through their training. He also preferred fighting with his fists. Yazoo figured it was probably because of his brother's body mass. He'd read in one of the hand to hand techniques books that larger men usually had an affinity for such, though he honestly couldn't figure out why. Fighting with fists was okay and he enjoyed being able to feel his hands or feet punching into monsters or men alike. But he really preferred to shoot them. It left no marks on him and was more efficient.

_... son…_

Yazoo tilted his head, distracted from the dragon he and his brother were playing with. It had been awhile since they ate and this was the first thing that crossed their path when they decided they were hungry. Dragon wasn't the best meat, but it was good enough. He shrugged and jumped lightly away from the thrashing tail, avoiding the dragon's fire breath attack with ease.

_My... son… Come...come... free... mother…_

Yazoo felt a shiver run down his spine at the odd whispering voice in his head. He shook it to see if the voice would go away and when it continued whispering nonsense to him, he turned to Loz who was just finishing off the monster with a jab of his Dual Hound to the beast's head. The dragon fell to the ground with a crash and Loz looked up with a triumphant grin which fell when he saw his brother's pensive look. In an instant he was standing beside Yazoo, a questioning look in his eyes.

"Yazoo?" His familiar voice brought Yazoo back from his reverie and he looked up at Loz, green cat eyes flashing with confusion. Loz' eyes immediately reflected that confusion as he glanced quickly around to see what could have caused his brother's concern. There was nothing.

_Free... me... son… Come... free... mother_

Yazoo looked up at his larger brother, eyes coming back into focus.

"Who is… Mother?" he asked Loz.

The big man cocked his head, confusion written on his features.

"Mother?" he asked. Then suddenly the voice which was calling out to Yazoo reached his ears also and he froze.

_Come... son… Free...and… rule... world._

Loz grinned. That sounded like fun. But who was this "Mother" that called out to them?

What should we do?" he asked. Yazoo seemed to be busy listening to the whispers, trying to make out what the voice wanted from them.

_Where are we to go?_ Yazoo asked the voice in his head. It quickened, as if excited, and started chanting.

_Come… come… Come! Find... me... rule... world!_

Loz waited for his brother to answer his question, but Yazoo seemed preoccupied as he began stripping the hide off of the dragon they'd killed. They ate the meat raw, having nothing to start a fire with, and Loz watched Yazoo think about their problem. Finally the smaller brother turned to the larger and asked quietly, "Where should we look for "Mother"?

"Un," Loz grunted. He'd only heard the call to find Mother. He hadn't the slightest idea where to search for it. And what was a "Mother" anyway? He asked and Yazoo shrugged. That night as they slept, broken images flickered across their dreams; visions of glowing green eyes, a long sword, fingers that turned to claws and a voice that bore through their skulls until they both awoke sweating, staring into each other's eyes in fear and confusion.

Two more days of this had both Loz and Yazoo feeling jittery and irritable. The voice was incessant, but the calls were faint and unspecific, leaving them frustrated with nowhere to turn their anger of need on. Then, on the third night, the voice changed its whisperings. A strange compulsion took over the two brothers, pulling them back in the direction of the tall mountains in the distance. Yazoo was the first to realize where they were headed; the mountain village where Professor Hojo and Scarlet had trained them. When they reached the outskirts of the village of Nibelheim, Yazoo and Loz looked at each other, then Yazoo stepped forward - drawn by the voice toward the Shinra Mansion - and led the way into the underground compound, following the tugging of the voice inside of him.

They had already forgotten Hojo, whom they had seen very little of even when he was still interested in their progress, so they didn't miss his absence. Nor did they care about the litter of rotting corpses in the passageway below the mansion. But the voice which whispered to them grew more excited as they worked their way further down the endless tunnels until it reached a crescendo as they drew abreast of the four special growth tanks that still housed two of Hojo's Sephiroth clones; asleep and apparently oblivious to them or the voice which had called them here.

Loz frowned and looked at Yazoo. This was what the one called "Mother" wanted? Yazoo stepped up onto the dais and stared at the two tanks with clones in them. The voice crooned to him, reassuring, encouraging, triumphant. He touched the first tank. "Specimen D" was etched into a plaque at the top of the tank. The clone hung unmoving within the growth fluid, seemingly unaware. "Mother" was silent. But when Yazoo moved to brush his hand across the tank marked "Specimen C," the clone within jerked its head from side to side, floor length silver hair floating around him like gossamer wings. The whispering of "Mother's" voice rose abruptly. It became urgent and coaxing. Yazoo liked the feeling of pleasure it brought him and he ran his hand across the cool glass, staring intently at the figure floating within. Something told him this was his younger brother and the voice reassured him that this one would be able to lead them to her. It was a strange sensation, not unlike the satisfaction he received after an exciting battle with one of the tougher monsters he and his brother had come across in the forests. This would be fun!

Yazoo moved around the tank, letting "Mother's" voice guide him in his quest. He didn't know what he was supposed to do, but there was a console nearby and the whispers grew more intense as he walked closer to it.

_Yes… yes, yes, yes! Push it, push it… push, push, push! _

There were buttons on the surface of the metal console, blinking slowly; reds, greens, blues and some yellows. He didn't know what they were for, but experimentally he pushed a green one and waited. Mother nudged him excitedly. Yazoo frowned then tapped another button, a blue one this time. An alarm went off and the two brothers jumped back, looking at each other. No one yelled at them, so they waited to see what would happen.

Slowly the fluid inside the tank changed color. Then the boy within began to grow before their startled eyes. His body stretched; legs, arms, fingers, and toes elongating and flexing; face thinning from its original pre-adolescent chubbiness. Suddenly the clone raised his head and opened his mouth in a silent scream that reverberated inside their heads.

MOTHER!

Yazoo jumped, glancing around wildly to see what was wrong. "Mother's" whisperings became shrill and demanding, and frantically Yazoo looked at the flashing buttons on the console. Something was wrong, but he didn't know what he should do! Finally he grabbed his pistol out of its holster and fired at the tank, purposely avoiding hitting his little brother and shattering the glass prison. Green fluid gushed out, splashing them, and Loz stepped back, grunting in consternation. But Yazoo leaped forward and caught his younger brother, snatching him from the falling glass which he fended off with his own gloved hands. More alarms went off, hurting their ears, and Loz and Yazoo hurried from the room as "Mother's" praises whispered in their minds.

It wasn't until they were passing the place where they had stayed with Scarlet while she trained them in the art of fighting that Yazoo abruptly came to a stop. A thought occurred to him and he tossed his new brother to Loz who easily caught him, then ducked inside and grabbed up some of the leftover clothes from when they had lived there. After a quick look around to be sure he wasn't forgetting anything, Yazoo bundled up the clothes and hurried from the room. They could dress their new brother when they were away from this noisy place.

"Tch!"

Yazoo glanced up to find Loz pulling at the clone's long wet hair where it was wrapped around his arm, impeding the Dual Hound strapped there. Yazoo drew the double bladed sword from his sheath, pulled the silver hair loose and sliced it close to his younger brother's shoulders. Loz grinned at him and he smiled back. Both felt the sense of excitement, as if something important was about to happen. They turned and left Nibelheim. They had a new brother to train, and he would tell them what they should do next. "Mother" assured them of this.

* * *

Vincent stared at the human footprints leading to and from the Shinra Mansion. There were two sets; one set larger than the other and heavier. He remembered the empty clone tanks and wondered if the missing clones might have returned. The thought was not a pleasing one and he looked up again at the dark, foreboding building that had been his prison and Cloud's as well, if the hints he'd picked up from the ex-SOLDIER during their travels were any clue.

He had secretly followed Cloud into the Shinra Mansion one night, after their leader stopped near the tiny village on their way to Rocket Town, and then slipped away during the night while the others slept. He supposed it was just idle curiosity on his part, wanting to learn a bit more about their enigmatic leader, but what he'd seen had left a lasting impression on him. Cloud had gone straight to the library below the mansion, only a few feet from where Vincent himself had been incarcerated for so long and the ex-Turk had watched as the young warrior slowly walked up to the two containment tanks in the back, tracing his fingers lightly across the glass beakers, eyes distant. He whispered a name Vincent didn't know, nor had he ever heard Cloud mention it.

"… Zack…"

Then the blonde had moved further into the hellhole which had been Hojo's playground since before Cloud was born. Into the laboratory - where the now smashed operation table was - and the feeling which permeated Vincent's wintry soul held more pain, anguish and sorrow than he had thought anyone could bear. It was far worse than anything he felt for Lucrecia, who he had loved, even though he knew she did not love him back. Vincent had almost fled the place, but something kept him there and he had watched from concealment as Cloud touched the operating table, face unreadable, eyes glowing deep blue as if lost in painful memories.

"I'm sorry, Zack…" he had said, so softly that Vincent wasn't sure he heard correctly. "You would be alive now if I…" Abruptly he turned away, almost catching Vincent before he ducked back into the library and ghosted to the cover of the nearby bookshelves.

Cloud had stopped, smiled a small bitter smile and left, not turning back once. Vincent was sure he'd been seen, but Cloud never made any reference to the incident so he couldn't be sure. However, since that day the ex-Turk had watched Cloud more closely, searching for an answer to the sadness that seemed to come over their leader when nobody was looking. Or the thoughtful, almost pensive expression that briefly crossed his features when he was relating to them some of the truths he'd learned about himself and SOLDIER – which he'd never actually joined – and trying to explain his obsession with finding Sephiroth. He had asked them to help him.

Vincent now thought Cloud had meant that he wanted them to kill him if he lost control again, as he had when he attacked Aeris in the Temple of the Ancients after handing over the Black Materia to Sephiroth. It hurt him to remember that now and he stood up from where he had been studying the prints, shook the heavy black hair away from his eyes and - settling the Cerberus gun lightly in its holster for quick access - reluctantly headed toward the broken gates that led inside the Mansion.

It didn't take long to reach his goal, there being no monsters to impede his progress this time. The library was the same as he had left it, except that the corpses of the dead monsters had vanished. Probably carried away by scavengers or vanished like some monsters did when killed, as if their magical essence dissipated when they died, returning them to the Planet from which they'd been made. He wasn't much on the philosophical stuff, though he did find himself waxing philosophical on some occasions to avoid questions he didn't want to answer. Cloud seemed to be more aware of the Planet than anyone alive now, but the blonde wasn't here to ask, and besides, Vincent wasn't sure he wanted Cloud to see this. After all, he and Red had purposely kept the existence of the clones from their friend and the thought that they were actually alive and roaming freely through Hojo's lab was unsettling even to the stoic ex-Turk.

Nothing in the complex seemed to have been touched, Vincent noted as he made his way cautiously through the torn up examining room, then out into the many corridors and across the arena. He kept his senses on heightened alert for any strange noise or movement. There was nothing. That is, not until he reached the clones' tanks. He stopped abruptly at the sight, eyes glowing like twin flames as he tried to take in the empty clone tank, the broken glass and the flashing emergency lights. The claxons had long since turned off, but the strobing yellow lights told the tale of the break-in well enough. His eyes shifted to the tank where Sephiroth had transferred his essence when he left Cloud's body and his brows furrowed briefly. The boy within still slept, long silver hair drifting like a curtain around the slender body. There were no flashing lights over the tank or on the monitors or panels next to it, so apparently nothing had been done to it.

Only to this one. Vincent turned back to look at the destroyed clone tank and considered what it could mean. Two sets of footprints had entered the Shinra Mansion and two had left it. But there had to be three people at this point if his hunch was correct about the third clone being released from his tank. Turning, he searched for signs of the third clone. The floor was made of concrete, so there would be no footprints, except… Vincent's eyes narrowed as he noticed the green gelatinous substance; Mako. It had gushed out across the floor and started to condense, leaving a thick mud-like surface that would show imprints if he looked closely enough. He bent on one knee, avoiding contacting the substance directly.

The smell was enough to give him a slight headache and he shuddered. How could anyone or anything be suspended in this stuff without being destroyed? He remembered the tanks in the library Cloud had visited and wondered if the man was familiar with this particular agony. He'd certainly gone through Mako poisoning when he fell through the Crater and drifted to Mideel. The Avalanche members hadn't thought he'd ever come back from the strange coma he was in. Even the doctor had doubted, saying Cloud was somewhere far away, mind fragmented. Only Tifa had shown any hope, and it had been Tifa who went into the Lifestream to find and bring Cloud back.

Vincent lowered his head to floor level and looked across the surface for signs of disturbance. The liquid wasn't as well formed as mud, but he could distinctly see disturbances within the gooey substance. Two sets of footprints, as before. He rose and walked around, looking at it from a different angle until he distinctly made out two separate sets of prints. The same as before, only one set, he realized abruptly, seemed to sink deeper than he remembered. It was the smaller set of prints, a lighter weight clone? Or possibly a younger one. Either way, the extra weight suggested that this person was carrying the missing clone.

Vincent sent a last quick glance at where Sephiroth slept safely then followed the two sets of footprints back through the complex. The Mako had clung to their boots, so following them was easy enough, now that Vincent knew what he was looking for. They seemed to be headed back through the underground complex and outside, but they paused just after the arena and one of the two, the prints were harder to distinguish now that the Mako was drying or falling off of their boots, turned into a small side passage.

Vincent stepped into the room and glanced around. There was nothing noteworthy except a closet and some cupboards. Moving up to the closet, he pushed the half opened door aside to reveal black; black jumpsuits, boots, coats and pants. His heart sank. The clothes were only too familiar to him. He had seen them, or ones like them, many times before when he traveled with Cloud and his friends. Sephiroth. And now there were three, not two, of the clones alive and free. Vincent turned away from the closet and moved silently out into the passageway, letting his feet carry him toward the exit. Should he notify Red XIII? Something told him no, it wasn't necessary. The big cat already knew of the danger represented by two possible clones of Sephiroth. No need to add to the burden. But it increased his own need to find the trio and keep an eye on them. He must find out what they were up to and whether they intended to follow in their predecessor's footsteps or not.

Behind him, unnoticed, the last clone's lips twisted.


	22. Chapter 22

I'm sorry it took so long for this chapter. I really had a struggle with Cloud on how I should do it. Also my addictin to WoW and the lack of reviews didn't help. lol I guess what stirred me out of my funk was the really nice review and follow-up email I received from AthenaChrome. It got me thinking that maybe this story wasn't trash. I've rewritten this chapter because the first posting wasn't proofread. So, I hope you like it and yes, I was thinking of a sequel when I wrote this and no I'm not sure I'll be able to write it, but we'll see eyes twinkle mischievously Thank you AthenaChrome, for giving me back my muse :P

oxx000xxx

Chapter 22…

Silence: a strange sort of silence, Cloud thought as the roar of the Fenrir echoed hollowly across the barren wastelands that surrounded Midgar. There was no life here except for the occasional monster that had gotten away from Hojo's tinkering or managed to find some sort of sustenance from the dying earth.

He looked around at the blackened hills and flatlands, broken only by occasional outcrops of rock and cliff. There were the beginnings of green springing up here and there, he saw. Not much, but then it hadn't really been that long since Meteor, and though Reeve had stopped the use of the Midgar reactors, he knew it would probably take years for the Planet to heal itself enough to allow for real trees, grasses and maybe even flowers to start growing again. Cloud winced as he remembered the flowers growing in Aeris' church. That was probably the only place, save for Elmyra's house, where flowers would grow for years to come… a reminder of the flower girl who had given her life for the Planet and the people living on it.

Cloud closed his eyes briefly, trying to ignore the sting. It wasn't tears, he told himself fiercely. It wasn't! He just was having a hard time accepting that the quiet, friendly girl he'd met was dead, never to tease him or laugh at his morose thoughts, goading him lightly out of his fits of depression.

_Take care of yourself, Cloud._

He could see her as if she was there in front of him again, ducking to peek up at him through his unruly spikes, a slight smile on her lips. Somehow, even then, when she was on her way to pray to the Planet, she knew how to reach out to his heart; to tug at it and persuade him to try harder. He had wanted to save her. He'd wanted it more than anything in his life. Even chasing Sephiroth hadn't been as important until he killed her. Now, he had nothing. Oh, there was Tifa waiting for him back at the Seventh Heaven, and Marlene, and there were the orphans he'd collected. He still needed to find Denzel. He'd promised himself he would and he would! But somehow even that felt hollow. No… He felt hollow, as if something was missing in his soul.

_"Hang in there," Zack's face looking down at him in concern. "You okay?" ... a hand on his shoulder, "So what do you want to do when we get to Midgar?"_

Cloud jerked, biting his lip as a sharp pain lanced up his arm from the bruise. He looked down at it wondering, not for the first time, why the bruise hadn't gone away yet.

The oh-so-familiar voice rang in his head. Why couldn't he remember more clearly what Zack had looked like? He should at least have some memories of a face to go along with the voice, but no matter how hard he tried, the only image that came to mind was Mako green tinged glowing brown eyes looking curiously into his and a mop of black hair that seemed to defy gravity even more than his own.

The sight of a familiar cliff wrenched at his gut as he started to pass by and he stopped the Fenrir abruptly, eyes straying along the jagged edge.

The setting sun was lowering itself slowly below the peaks, leaving a small trail of golden light across the cliff top above him, but he didn't need such an obvious sign to know where he was. Turning the bike, Cloud drove around to the back side of the cliff and up to the top. Turning off the motor, he kicked the stand down and let the great black bike settle onto the rock surface. It was covered in dust, with a few pale greenish weeds scattered nearby. Cloud stood for a long moment staring across the cliff edge to where Midgar could clearly be seen just a few kilometers away. It was already covered in darkness, abandoned by the sun, though the place where he stood still shone with a faint light.

He couldn't remember much about the SOLDIER First Class named Zack. Only his name and a few scattered images; a hazy face looking down at him, asking if he was alright as they rode in the claustrophobic truck to Nibelheim on that fated mission. He'd been so motion sick he couldn't even talk, had only waved his superior officer away. Then his voice, talking…soothing... reassuring... The voice that had carried him through so many torture sessions, through the pain and emptiness that followed, regaling Cloud with stories he couldn't even remember properly. Just the voice: warm, friendly, alive... talking to him, drawing him back from the abyss which beckoned so invitingly to him at times.

_"Don't worry. I won't leave you. We're friends, right?"_

"But you did leave me," Cloud said softly. "And I didn't know what to do. I tried my best to go on. I wanted so badly to be like you; strong, confident... a leader. But I'm just a copy: a poor, useless copy."

And it was his fault; it was all his fault. If he hadn't been weak, if he could've run on his own or even fought with Zack, instead of slowing him down during the SOLDIER's dash for freedom. He could only remember fragments of that long chase across two continents; days spent in caves on the ground or running through forests and jungles while Shinra soldiers gave chase; through cold and heat; under the sun and the moon. The days and nights had run into one continuous blur, but Cloud knew in his heart that the SOLDIER First Class had stayed by his side the entire time, half carrying, half dragging him along. He had refused to leave him behind, even when it meant he risked getting caught again.

Then, only a few short kilometers away from their final destination, to be shot down defending Cloud, the nobody, the weakling who couldn't survive without him. It was too much. Cloud's heart suddenly felt like it would burst with guilt and sorrow. He dropped to his knees where he remembered falling; where Zack had run to defend him; where he had raised himself up on shaking arms to drag himself over to the dead SOLDIER and cried out, tears lost in the rain that had started to fall as if in sympathy.

Cloud grabbed his wrist and squeezed hard against the throbbing pain that answered his heart's pain. His eyes stung, as if a bright light had been flashed into them.

"I'm sorry, Zack," he said softly. "You gave everything for me and I have nothing to give in return." A familiar weight shifted on his back and he stood, an idea crossing his mind. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing at all. Slowly drawing the Buster Sword from its sheath, he walked to the edge of the cliff. Lights were on in Midgar, making it look like stars had fallen to Gaia. Cloud tensed and drove the sword as hard as he could into the stone then stepped back, staring into the shining surface of the blade.

"I'll live for the both of us."

It wasn't much of a promise, he knew, but it was all he could offer the brave SOLDIER. He would be what he hoped Zack would be proud of and save others' lives in honor of his fallen friend. Maybe if he saved enough of them, he might even pay back some of the debt he owed, though never the sin. Denzel's dirty face crossed his mind and he decided to find the boy as soon as he could. Elmyra might not have room, but he would find somewhere... The delivery job had a purpose now too. It would help pay for the orphan's food and clothing. Cloud noticed it had grown completely dark where he stood and he turned reluctantly back to the Fenrir with on final look at Zack's sword: his monument, proof that he had indeed existed. With a shake of his head, Cloud gave a very small hopeful smile, mounted the great black bike and drove down the cliff toward Midgar.

In his sleeping child's body, Sephiroth's lips quirked upward with a smile of anticipation.

xxooo0oooxx

I can't believe I let my notes get into this chapter! O.o I have removed the offending words and now wish you farewell. Unless I actually decide to write the follow-up story After Advent. Muahaha! Only good reviews will tell.


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